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GUIDE 


FOR 


Catholic Young Women 


ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE. 


WHO EARN THEIR OWN LIVING 


BY 

THE REV. GEORGE DESHON 

Congregation of St. Paul , the Apostle 




New York 


/ 7 H 0 < • 


THE COLUMBUS PUBLISHING CO 
120-122 West 6oth Street 







Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, 

By the Rev. GEORGE DESHON, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 


Copyright, 1892, by the Rev. George Deshon. 


LC Control Number 



tmp96 033841 

















PREFACE. 


TN the course of my work as a missionary 
1 priest, for many years past, I have been 
brought in contact with many thousands of 
all classes of the community. 

Among them all, none have interested and 
encouraged me more than the girls who earn 
their living by their own hard labor. 

I have often admired the beautiful exam¬ 
ples of Christian virtue and character I have 
found among them; their heroic patience 
and contentment with their lot; the inno¬ 
cence and purity of their lives ; their noble 
self-denial and disinterestedness, and the sin¬ 
gleness of mind with which they look above 
this world and aspire to perfect themselves 
in the love of God. 

This has led me to wish to do something 
for them ; to contribute what little I could 
to lay a solid foundation in some, and to in¬ 
crease in others what has been already well 
begun, so that they may become beautiful 
and fragrant flowers in the garden of the 
Lord. 

I feel that my work will not be in vain, 



2 


Preface . 


for the hearts of these good girls are a good 
soil, which, as Scripture says, receives the 
seed of the Word with thankfulness, and pro¬ 
duces abundant fruit. 

My work has been a pleasant one, and I 
have striven to keep but one thing in view, 
and that is to do as much good as possi¬ 
ble. 

If the good girls for whom I have written 
it find pleasure and profit in it, my whole 
purpose will have been accomplished. 

St. Paul’s, 59TH Street. 

Feast of StTeresa , October 13, 1868. 


1 



Preface to theTwenty-fifth Edition. 


TT is now more than twenty years since 
A this book has been published. 

Its reception by the public for whom it 
was written has been very gratifying. It 
had a large sale in the beginning, and it 
still continues, so that more than twenty 
thousand copies have been sold. 

Scarcely any effort has been made to 
make it known, but I have received many 
letters of warm approval from those who 
have read it. One of our most prominent 
Bishops told me that he had preached it 
from cover to cover in conferences to his 
Young Women’s Sodality. 

It has also been translated and pub¬ 
lished in German in Europe. These tokens 
of approval have encouraged me to revise 
it carefully, to correct some portions, and 
add others to make it more widely useful. 
If those who read it find edification and 
pleasure in * the perusal I hope they will 
not forget to pray for me. 

St. Paul’s, 59TH Street, 

April 6, 1892 . 


3-4 






























































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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I.—A Good Girl has Reason to be 

SATISFIED WITH HER CONDITION 

in Life.9 

II.—Advantages of a Life of Labor. 13 

III. —Advantages of a Life of Hu¬ 

miliation and Subjection. . 16 

IV. —Example of Saint Isidora. . 20 

V.—A Good Girl has no need to be 

Sad because of her want 
of Opportunity to acquire 
Worldly Knowledge. . . 24 

VI.—Necessity of a Deep and Set¬ 
tled Principle to Cling 
Closely to God. ... 28 

VII.—How to Commence to ground 

this Principle in the Heart. 33 

VIII.—How to Increase in the Love 
of God ; or, of Prayer in Gen¬ 
eral.37 

IX.—Daily Exercises of Prayer.— 

Morning Prayer. ... 40 

X.—Continuation. .... 42 

XI.—Renewal of Good Intention. . 44 

XII. —Of Prayer during the Day. . 48 

XIII. —Of Night Prayers. ... 50 

XIV. —Objections Answered. . . 53 

XV.—Advantage of Spending Sunday 

Well.57 


5 



6 


Contents , 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XVI.—Of Working on Sunday. . . 60 

XVII.—On Attendance at Mass.—Ex¬ 
cuses FOR NEGLECTING IT. . . 63 

XVIII.—Excuses for not Attending 

Mass.69 

XIX.—How to Assist at Mass. . . 73 

XX.—Of Reading Good Books. . . 76 

XXI.—Of Reading the Bible. . . 79 

XXII.—Continuation.83 

XXIII.—How to Read the Bible. . . 86 

XXIV.—Of other Good Books. . . 89 

XXV.—On the Nature of the Sacra¬ 
ments.92 

XXVI.—Confession a Remedy for Sin. 95 

XXVII.—Continuation.98 

XXVIII.—We must not put off the Use of 

this Remedy.100 

XXIX—Example of Saint Mary of 

•Egypt.103 

XXX.—Scruples of the Good concern¬ 
ing Confession.107 

XXXI.—Scruples concerning Contri¬ 
tion.hi 

XXXII.—We must have the Spirit of 

Penance.114 

XXXIII.—What the Holy Communion is. 117 

XXXIV.—Effects of Communion. . .122 

XXXV.—Preparation for Communion. . 125 

XXXVI.—Behavior at and after Commu¬ 
nion. I2 9 

XXXVII.—How OFTEN SHOULD ONE RECEIVE 

Communion.131 

XXXVIII.—On Special Devotions. . . 135 




Contents. 


7 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XXXIX.—Of Devotion to the Blessed Sac¬ 
rament.139 

XL.—On Devotion to the Blessed 

Virgin Mary.143 

XLI.—Devotion to Saints. . . .148 

XLII.—True Idea of Service. . . .151 

XLIII.—True Idea of Service.—H ow to 

Correspond to it. . . .154 

XLIV.—True Idea of Service.—Exam¬ 
ples.157 

XLV.—On the Choice of a Place. . . 161 

XLVI.—How TO REGARD ONE’S EMPLOY¬ 
ERS.166 

XLVII.—Continuation.—Examples. . . 170 

XLVIII.—Continuation.175 

XLIX.—Doctrine of Scripture on this 

Subject.178 

L.—Of Diligence.180 

LI.—Advantages of Diligence. . 185 

LII.—On Honesty. . . . . .190 

LIIL—Continuation.195 

Liv.—A dvantages of Honesty. . . 197 

LV.—Different Kinds of Dishonesty. 

—Wastefulness. . . 200 

LVI.—Dishonesty on the Pretext of 

Charity.203 

LVII.—Dishonesty arising from Glut¬ 
tony.206 

LVIIIi—D ishonesty on the Pretext of 

Insufficient Wages. . . .211 

LIX.—Co-operation in Dishonesty. . 214 

LX.—Practical Directions in this 

Matter.218 




8 


Contents . 


CHAPTER PAGE 

LXI.—On Spying and Listening. . .221 

LXII.—Obligation of Secrecy. . . 224 

LXIII.—On Holy Purity.228 

LXIV.—On Evil Thoughts. . . .233 

LXV.—Custody of the Eyes. . . . 236 

LXVI.—Of Evil Conversations. . . 239 

LXVII.—Of Modesty in Dress. . . . 243 

LXVIII.—Advantages of Modesty in 

Dress.246 

LXIX.—Of Modesty in Dress.—Contin¬ 
uation.251 

LXX.—On Truthfulness. . . .256 

LXXI.—Scripture on Lying. . . . 259 

LXXII.—The Devil’s Pretexts for Lying. 262 
LXXIII.—Examples of Truthfulness. . 267 
LXXIV.—Whether to Marry or not. . 270 

LXXV.—Continuation.274 

LXXVI.—Great Need of Prudence. . . 278 

LXXVII.—What Intimacies to Form. . . 280 

LXXVIII.—Of Mixed Marriages. . . . 284 

LXXIX.—Behavior during Courtship. . 287 

LXXX.—Continuation.292 

LXXXI.—The Right Idea of Married Life. 297 
LXXXII.—Of the Marriage Ceremony. . 301 
LXXXIII.—How to Behave in Sickness.— 

Conclusion. .... 303 




CHAPTER I. 


A GOOD GIRD HAS REASON TO BE SATISFIED 
WITH HER CONDITION IN EIFE. 



HY was I not born rich?” says the poor 


^ ^ girl who has to work hard for a living. 
“There are the ladies, with little or nothing to 
do, amusing themselves all day and enjoying 
all the good things of life, while poor I must 
drudge the whole blessed day, from early morn¬ 
ing till late at night, for a living, and a scant 
one at that. I wish the Almighty had placed 
me in some better condition of life than the 
one I am in! ” 

My good girl, you who talk in that way, you 
do not think what you are saying. Instead of 
complaining of the good God, if your eyes could 
only be opened to see things as they really are, 
your heart would leap for joy and your tongue 
would praise Him that you have not been made 
a lady, or anything but just what you are. For 
the truth is, your condition of life is one of the 
very best in which God could place you, and it 
is a great privilege for you to be in it rather 
than in any other. 

This may seem strange, but let us look into 
it and see how it is. I dare say you remember 


IO 


Reasons to be Satisfied . 


that among almost the first words of the little 
catechism the question is asked: “For what 
were we created?” The answer to it is: “To 
learn to serve and love God in this world in 
order that we may be happy for ever with Him 
in the next.” Ah, this lets us into the whole 
secret! We were not created to be rich, to live 
without work, to live in fine houses, and wear 
fine clothes, and ride in elegant coaches, and 
have what folks are apt to call a fine time of 
it. No; it was for nothing of all this, but to 
learn to love and serve God during this life, in 
order to earn heaven and prepare ourselves to 
be happy forever with God. 

This is the reason why the rich are so often 
unhappy, in spite of their money and splendor. 
They are just living for riches and pleasure, in¬ 
stead of to please God, and they cannot find 
any real satisfaction in such a life. God will 
never let us have any real happiness unless we 
live in order to please and love Him. 

It is true a rich man or woman can serve 
God and be happy, but it is difficult, for riches 
and honors and pleasure steal away the heart, 
and cause Him to be forgotten. And when 
God is forgotten what enjoyment can there be 
of life? 

What is over and above our necessary and 
suitable clothing will bring but little satisfac¬ 
tion. It only feeds an idle vanity, destroys 



Reasons to be Satisfied. 


i 


contentment, and fills us with desires for a 
thousand things that never satisfy us when 
they are supplied. 

We are always the worse for it when we 
eat or drink much more than is necessary for 
us; we lose our appetite, our health, and our 
strength, so that the body becomes a burden 
and life a misery. 

All the money or honor in the world can¬ 
not insure health or contentment of mind. 

Then there is death, in the midst of our 
earthly enjoyments, always staring us in the 
face. Our friends are cut down around us, 
and we know not the day or the hour when 
our turn will come. But we know very well 
that when it does come we must be torn away, 
whether we will or no, from everything in this 
world which we have set our hearts upon. Can 
we have any enjoyment in such a life as we 
have here, unless it be grounded on peace with 
God ? unless we carry out the blessed inten¬ 
tions which God had in creating us, namely, 
that we should love and serve Him ? 

And then think of that vast eternity which 
stretches away beyond, after this life is over. 
How small and mean everything here is in 
comparison with it! What difference will it 
make to us when we are once in the pres¬ 
ence of God, clothed with glory and honor, 
with white garments, and the palm of victory 



2 


Reasons to ,be Satisfied . 


in our hands, with no sorrows, sighs, or tears to 
be feared any more for ever—what difference 
will it make whether we had a little more or a 
little less on this earth ? Why, this whole life 
will seem a small speck in the grand ocean of 
eternity. 

In short, in considering any state or condi¬ 
tion, the principal thing is, to take into account 
the advantages it holds out for securing a holy 
and pious life, so that we may come safe 
through all the trials and temptations of this 
world to our only true home in heaven. 

In this view, I do not know any among the 
ordinary conditions of life so good and desirable 
as that of a life of service or of daily labor. 



CHAPTER II. 


ADVANTAGES OF A UFE OF EABOR. 

A LIFE of labor has always been considered, 
^ by spiritual persons, most favorable to the 
soul. To have nothing which we are obliged 
to do may seem very fine to our worldliness 
and love of ease, but it is* most dangerous. 
You know the old saying: “The devil finds 
work enough for idle hands to do.” It is most 
true. Idleness opens the door for the worst 
temptations. 

Suppose you had pretty much all your time 
to do what you pleased with, how likely it is 
that a great part of it would be misused! Hab¬ 
its of idleness would be formed, your time 
would hang heavy on your hands, and you 
would not know what to do. You would seek 
for amusement; you would soon be altogether 
taken up with it, and your whole life would be¬ 
come one given up to the world and to wick¬ 
edness. You would, indeed, stand a great 
chance of going straight down to perdition. 

The labor of the hands is, then, a source of 
blessing. It furnishes a great help to spending 
life in innocence. It fills up our time with hon¬ 
est industry, while it leaves the soul free to 
13 


14 


Advantages of Labor. 


raise itself from time to time to God. The 
labor of the hands is not like that of the head. 
Head-work fills the mind, and takes up its at¬ 
tention, but hand-work leaves the mind in a 
great measure free. 

St. Anthony was taught this by an angel 
from heaven. One day when he felt tired of 
uninterrupted prayer, and unable to continue it, 
he grieved over it before the Tord, and begged 
to be instructed how to get over this trouble, 
which was a hindrance to his salvation. After 
his prayer he went out of his cell, and saw a 
person, the exact image of himself, seated at 
work making mats out of palm-leaves, and 
from time to time rising up to pray. The 
saint perceived it was an angel who took this 
form and acted in this manner to make him 
understand how, by going from work to prayer, 
and from prayer to w r ork, he could cheerfully 
and surely work out his salvation. 

The old hermits of the desert all understood 
this. They did not dare to be idle, but made 
baskets, cultivated the ground, spent all their 
time in labor or prayer, and so worked out their 
salvation in the utmost security. 

We cannot have the life of these old hermits 
of the desert over again nowadays, but, outside 
the walls of the convent, whose life is most like 
theirs? That of the good girl who earns her 
own living at some honest employment. She it 



Advantages of Labor. 


15 


is who enjoys, more than any others that I 
know of, the advantages which these old saints 
coveted so much—who can spend her days in 
work and prayer, and thus keep off the evil one, 
and work out her salvation with comparative 
ease. 

Do not, then, complain of labor, but rejoice 
and thank God that He has given you not a 
life of idleness, but of honest and continual 
labor. It is a very great favor of His love, as 
you will see when this body of the flesh falls 
away, and you stand on the other side of 
eternity. 



CHAPTER III. 


ADVANTAGES OF A EIFE OF HUMILIATION AND 
SUBJECTION. 

“AH! but you do not consider what it is to be 
constantly working; to be looked down 
upon as an inferior; to be treated with con¬ 
tempt : all those things that belong to a life of 
labor. Surely it is more than one can put up 
with! And remember it is these very things 
that make the life of a working-girl different 
from every other. What advantage can there 
be in all this'? ” 

I have taken all these , things into ac¬ 
count, and yet I say that, in the view of reli¬ 
gion, in the view of faith, in the view of Jesus 
Christ our Saviour, it is that very humility of 
your state, that very subjection to those very 
insults, and all that you are liable to suffer, 
which make the highest privilege of your con¬ 
dition. These very things are precious dia¬ 
monds and pearls, which the Lord gives to you 
and not to others. Why, this is the very 
money put in your hands with which you can 
buy your salvation! Only take these things 
from the hands of God with patience and thank¬ 
fulness, and nothing more is required of you. 

16 


Advantages of Humiliations. 17 

In this view, how much harder is the lot of 
your employers than yours! They must be 
humble and poor in spirit; they must put away 
pride and haughtiness, or they cannot get 
through the gate of heaven. “He that ex- 
alteth himself shall be humbled” (St. Luke 
xiv. 11). Think how hard this must be, sur¬ 
rounded as they are by all those things that 
nourish and increase pride. 

Suppose you were in their place, do you 
think you would be humble and lowly before 
God ; gentle and kind to those below you ; not 
taken up and engrossed with riches ; in a word, 
poor in spirit? I am afraid not. It seems to 
me it would be very difficult, and so it seemed 
to our Lord when He thought over it, for He 
exclaimed, “ How hard it is for the rich to en¬ 
ter the kingdom of God ! ” (St. Mark x. 23). 

Be thankful, then, instead of repining, and 
say, “No, Lord, I ask no change; it is better 
for me just as I am. I am humbled in the sight 
of men, but blessed in Thine.” 

There is a beautiful passage of Scripture 
which in a few words confirms all that I have 
said : “ But God hath chosen the foolish things 
of the world that He may confound the wise; 

' and the weak things hath God chosen that He 
may confound the strong ; and the mean things 
and those that are contemptible hath God 
chosen” (1 Cor. i. 27, 28). 



18 A dvantages o f Hu initiations . 

How beautiful! What the world esteems 
foolish, and weak, and mean, and contemptible, 
that is just what God has chosen, what He re¬ 
gards with peculiar favor, what He gives his 
blessing to and makes to be the road to ever¬ 
lasting life. 

Moreover, our Lord shows us this by His 
own example. Instead of coming into the 
world rich and noble, He came poor and de¬ 
spised. Instead of coming to be waited upon, 
He came to wait on others. They used to say of 
Him : “ Who is that ? Only the son of Joseph, 
the carpenter! ’ ’ They remembered always how 
they had seen Him carry boards, and help Jo¬ 
seph at the carpenter’s trade. 

St. Paul says we ought to think in this 
respect as Jesus Christ did : “ For let this mind 
be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; 
who, being in the form of God, thought it no 
robbery Himself to be equal to God: but 
debased Himself, taking the form of a servant ” 
(Phil. ii. 5, 6, 7). Above all other names, you 
see, he chooses to be called by the name of 
“servant.” 

In the Scripture the life of labor is taken un¬ 
der the special protection-of the Lord. What¬ 
ever you do for an earthly master is considered 
by Him as being done for Himself. “What¬ 
ever ye do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, 
and not to men: knowing that ye shall receive 



Advantages of Humiliations. 


19 


of the Lord the reward of inheritance” (Col. 
iii. 23, 24). 

What a privilege! what dignity and honor 
this throws around your state of life ! When I 
think of it, I cannot help envying the good girl 
at work all the numerous advantages she en¬ 
joys; her opportunity for retirement and prayer; 
her opportunity for patience and humility, which 
will make her so much like Jesus Christ and so 
dear to Him ; her opportunity of acquiring such 
rich merits by fidelity and good intention in her 
employments; the safety and peacefulness of 
her life; and all the good she will do to others 
by the force of her modest and holy example* 

How well the saints understood this! St. 
Serapion sold himself twice in succession to the 
lowest comedians, and served them in the 
meanest offices, until by his humble example he 
converted them into fervent Christians. St. 
Alexius, of a noble Roman family, fled away 
from his father’s house, and after remaining 
many years, until entirely forgotten, returned 
and lived seventeen years as a beggar depen¬ 
dent on the charity of his own father, who only 
found out who he was by a writing found upon 
him after his death. But I have found a most 
beautiful example, which throws light on the 
whole matter and which I will relate more at 
length. 



CHAPTER IV. 


EXAMPLE OF SAINT ISIDORA. 

T HIS holy virgin lived in the Convent of Ta- 
benna, in Egypt. She was one of a com¬ 
munity of four hundred sisters. Such was her 
love of humiliation and contempt that she court¬ 
ed every way and opportunity of abasing her¬ 
self. 

But, as her intention was entirely good, she 
took care that her follies should all be of an 
innocent character. She wrapped an old rag 
around her head, went barefoot, and instead of 
sitting down at the table like the others, she ate 
the crumbs which she collected with a sponge 
and the scrapings of the dishes. 

All the time she worked at the hardest and 
lowest work, as if she had been the vilest slave, 
and no one ever saw her idle a moment. 

Some of the sisters treated her harshly when- • 
ever they met her, thinking her to be insane, 
and others avoided her because they thought 
her possessed of the devil; but the humble Isi- 
dora never made the least complaint. On the 
contrary, the more ill-usage she got, the more 
she seemed to be pleased and satisfied. 

She exercised herself in this way a long 
20 


Example of St. Isidora. 


21 


time, in what we may call the wise folly of the 
cross, until God, who exalts the humble, was 
pleased to manifest her heroic sanctity to a 
great servant of His, named Pytirion, who had 
lived many years in the exercise of constant 
prayer and good works. 

An angel appeared to him in the desert 
where he lived, and told him not to think too 
highly of himself on account of his devotion and 
good works; that if he would go to the monas¬ 
tery of women at Tabenna, he would find there 
a person much superior to himself. This was 
a woman who, being an object of ridicule, and 
treated with contempt, never showed the least 
impatience, but kept her heart constantly united 
to God, serving her sisters with a wonderful ex¬ 
actness and sweetness, while he, although he 
never left the desert, allowed his imagination 
sometimes to run over the whole world. 

This venerable old man then went to the 
monastery, where he was well known by repu¬ 
tation, and asked the superior to have all her 
religious called together, as he had a special 
reason for wishing to see them. His request 
was granted, and they all came with the excep¬ 
tion of the very one we have been speaking 
about. Pytirion looked at them all attentively, 
but he did not discover the one he looked for. 

‘ ‘ Are all here ? * ’ said he. “ Yes, ” was the an¬ 
swer, “ all of us.” “You must be mistaken,” 



22 


Example of St. Isidora. 


said he, “ for I do not see the one that God 
manifested to me.” 

“Oh!”* said they, “there is another, but she 
is only a poor crazy thing who works in the 
kitchen.” “Bring her here,” said Pytirion, 
“and let me speak with her.” But she seemed 
to have a foresight of what was to happen, and 
was so loath to come that they had almost to 
drag her along, saying that it was Pytirion that 
wished to speak with her. 

As soon as she appeared, the saint saw in 
her the marks of holiness that the angel had 
pointed out, and, filled with respect, he fell on 
his knees and begged her blessing, calling her 
“Amma,” a name only applied to the spiritual 
mothers of the monastery. She, on her part, 
fell on her knees and humbly begged his bless¬ 
ing, thinking him superior to herself, and her 
master in goodness. 

All the religious were filled with astonish¬ 
ment at such a sight. A venerable old man on 
his knees before one whom they considered a 
poor crazy creature; they could not believe 
their eyes. “Father!” they cried, “what 
makes you do so? Don’t you know she is 
only a fool?” “You are the fools,” said Py¬ 
tirion. “She is better than you, and better 
than I. She is a true mother in holiness, and 
would to God that at the day of judgment I may 
appear as loaded with merit as she is.” 



Example of St. Isidora. 


23 


At this answer they saw how much they had 
been deceived, and were touched to the heart, 
and confessed humbly all the abuse and harsh 
treatment they had inflicted upon her. Pytirion 
prayed for them, had a long conversation with 
the humble Isidora, and went away. 

Finding herself after this the object of great 
respect and veneration on the part of the good 
sisters, she began to feel uneasy. She knew 
that labor and contempt were much better for 
her soul, and made her dearer to God. She 
could not endure to be thought much of, so she 
soon left the place and went off where she was 
unknown, and where, no doubt, she lived the 
same kind of life of contempt and humility as 
before. Nothing more was ever heard of her, 
but God knows all her life and will make it 
manifest at the last day. 



CHAPTER V. 


A GOOD GIRD HAS NO NEED TO BE SAD BECAUSE 
OP HER WANT OF OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE 
WOREDUY KNOWEEDGE. 

“T)UT, father, how can a poor girl like myself 
-D be said to be in a good condition of life ? 
I have never had an opportunity to get much 
learning. This, you must confess, is a great 
hardship, and it seems to me to stand in the 
way of leading a good life and getting to 
heaven, which you say is the very thing we 
all live for. What have you got to say to 
that?” 

I say that, on the one hand, true wisdom 
does not consist in human science or knowledge, 
or in knowing a great variety of things, and on 
the other, that the want of such knowledge does 
not make us ignorant. 

If you know a few things, such as the truths 
contained in the Apostles’ Creed, namely, that 
God has created you to be happy for ever, that 
Jesus Christ loved you so much as to lay down 
His life for you, and that the only true happi¬ 
ness is to be found in seeking first of all ‘ ‘ the 
kingdom of God and His justice ” ; and if this 
knowledge has sunk deep in your heart, so that 
24 


Worldly Knowledge not Essential. 25 


it comes first to mind and directs your actions to 
God, you are very wise and very learned. 

The man who has read a thousand books, if 
thesg* simple things have not sunk as deep in his 
mind as in yours, is not so wise and learned as 
you are. 

For example, a learned man hears a sermon, 
and understands the meaning of every word 
and of all the ideas, so that he can talk about it 
to the wonder of every one, but nothing of it all 
has any practical effect on him. You, on the 
contrary, scarcely get the full meaning of a 
single sentence, and all long and hard words 
fly over your head, but you notice some say¬ 
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps this: 
“ Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of 
heart, and you shall find rest for your soul.” 
It makes a deep impression : you often recall it 
to mind; it makes you mild and gentle, and 
more and more so during your whole life. 

You have understood that sermon better and 
learned more than that man did. You have got 
more in that sentence than whole piles of books 
contain. 

The fathers of the desert, with only the 
Scripture, or, may be, only some sentences of it 
that they knew by heart, but which they kept in 
mind, and felt deeply and acted out, became so 
wise and prudent that learned men took long jour¬ 
neys on purpose to get their advice on most 



26 Worldly Knowledge not Essential ’ 


important affairs. They spoke with such truth 
and force that their words penetrated the hearts 
of thousands who came to listen to them. 

Knowledge of worldly things often hits the 
soul with so many distracting ideas that it is 
difficult to take in the meaning of divine things. 
“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth ” 
(i Cor. viii. i). 

The good girl, who really desires to love 
God, will be taught by God Himself how to do 
it. She will hear the principles of wisdom 
taught in the church, and from the lips of 
others, and God will constantly whisper them 
to her heart, so that she will become very wise. 

So Thomas a Kempis, speaking in the per¬ 
son of our Tord, says: “I am the one who 
teaches how io despise worldly things; to be 
tired of that which must pass away; to seek 
that which is eternal; to be wise in regard to 
eternal things; to fly from honors; to endure 
scandals without sin; to make one put all his 
hope in Me; to desire nothing that does not 
lead to Me, and to love Me in preference to 
everything else.” 

Sublime wisdom ! What is all knowledge of 
all science compared to this? God, “who re- 
sisteth the proud and giveth grace to the hum¬ 
ble, “ will give you this wisdom if you desire it. 
Improve what opportunities you have for learn¬ 
ing to read and acquiring useful knowledge; 



Worldly Knowledge not Essential. 27 


but remember that the want of learning and op¬ 
portunity will not stand in your way if you are 
truly desirous to be united to God. He can in 
abundance make up for all such deficiency, and 
He will do so, for He is goodness and love 
itself. 

Well, then, on all accounts you see that 
your condition in life is a most advantageous 
one. I hope you will consider it so, and never 
allow yourself to murmur at it. Be full of joy 
and thankfulness, and determine by a good life 
to get from it all the advantages that the Sav¬ 
iour of the world has intended it should afford 
you. 

In the following chapters we will consider 
more particularly how to live this good life and 
gain these eternal rewards. 



CHAPTER VI. 


NECESSITY OF A DEEP AND SETTEED PRIN- 
CIPEE TO CEING CEOSEEY TO GOD. 

A LE the advantage, all the good of a life of 
labor depends on your being faithful. 
Two girls may be in equally good situations, 
yet one will be contented and happy and grow¬ 
ing better every day, while the other will be 
always complaining and fretting, making her¬ 
self and everybody else unhappy and getting 
more and more wicked. Let us look into it and 
see the reason of all this difference. 

These two girls are acting on very different 
principles. One looks first at this world in 
everything. Her mind is taken up with the 
idea of enjoying all the pleasure she can now. 
She is all the 'time studying the ease and 
comfort of the present moment. As soon as 
any desire rises up in her heart she allows 
herself to be completely carried away by it, 
and God and religion have to stand in the back¬ 
ground. 

The other is in the habit of looking away 
from this world, and looking first at God. The 
question with her is, Is it right ? is it good for 
my soul ? and not, How do I like it ? She takes 


28 


Necessity of Principle. 


29 


a calm and holy pleasure in denying herself 
what is wrong or not good for her, because she 
knows that her soul is united more closely to 
God, her only real good, by so doing. 

This is the reason of all the difference in 
their lives—why one is so happy and good, the 
other so unhappy and sinful; and this shows the 
necessity of having a right principle of conduct, 
a principle good enough, and broad enough, 
and strong enough to regulate all the actions 
of our life. 

We cannot do better than lay down some 
such principle. St. Paul had such a ruling 
principle. He says: “ I do not live any longer, 
but it is Christ that lives in me ” (Gal. ii. 20). 
He had Christ so firmly seated in his mind, he 
had it so much at heart to please Him, that he 
was able to say that he lived no longer for him¬ 
self, but for Christ. Here was his fixed princi¬ 
ple : he would no longer live for himself, but for 
Jesus Christ. No doubt he used to say to him¬ 
self on all occasions: “Remember, Paul, you 
are no longer to live for yourself, but for 
Christ ’ ’ ; and it was by acting on this principle 
that he arrived at such a high state of per¬ 
fection. 

In the same way, if you want to live a good 
life, you must take care to have some such prin¬ 
ciple, which shall have the upper hand in your 
soul and control your whole conduct. 



30 


Necessity of Principle . 


It is no matter how it is expressed—whether 
one says, “It is better to lose the whole world 
than suffer the loss of the soul ” ; or, “ My only 
real happiness consists in serving God ’ ’ ; or, 

‘ ‘ My meat and drink shall be to do the will of 
God ’ ’ ; or, “ I will look at God and his will 
first in all I do ’ * ; or, “ All my desire is to 
please God and save my soul ”; all these 
things mean really the same thing. 

They mean only what our Saviour meant 
when He said, “ What shall it profit a man if 
he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of 
his soul,” or, “What shall a man give in ex¬ 
change for his soul ” (St. Mark viii. 36). 

We need some such thought to sink deep in 
our minds, so deep that it may never be forgot¬ 
ten or lost sight of. Oh ! my good girl, do not 
rest satisfied until you can repeat some such 
sentiment with your whole soul. 

When St. Ignatius wanted to get St. Francis 
Xavier to devote himself to God he did it in 
this way. He saw St. Francis, at that time a 
worldly young man, who thought little of his 
soul, quite frequently, and managed at every in¬ 
terview to repeat the words : ‘ ‘ What shall it 
profit a man to gain the whole world if he lose 
his own soul.” By and by they began to have 
their effect, and St. Francis said to himself: 
“Indeed, what will it profit me to gain all 
worldly distinction if I am lost ? ’ ’ He saw 



Necessity of Principle. 


3i 


things in their true light, devoted himself to 
God heart and soul, and became a great 
saint. 

So, my dear good girl, you must strive to 
possess and fill your soul with the grand prin¬ 
ciple of living for God, of wishing and striving 
to please and love God more and more. 

You must, as it were, keep your eyes fixed 
on this mark, that the sight of it may always 
afford you strength and courage. 

Suppose a beautiful house, on a hill-top, sur¬ 
rounded by pleasant groves and gardens of 
flowers, could be placed in your sight, with the 
promise that it should be yours after a term of 
faithful service. If you found that service get¬ 
ting tiresome, you would go to your window, 
look at that beautiful house, your courage 
would rise, and your labor would again become 
lightsome and easy. 

So have in your mind’s eye the love of the 
Saviour, that great treasure which will make 
you rich for all eternity, have it always ready to 
look at, and I will warrant that all the troubles 
of life, and all the mischances that may happen 
to you, cannot hinder your soul from rejoicing 
at the glorious prospects before you. 

Would that we could always bear this in 
mind ! But the trouble is, and I may say the 
only trouble is, that it is so often forgotten; 
either lost sight of altogether or for a long 



32 


Necessity of Principle. 


time, or seen only so dimly and indistinctly that 
it appears like a dream and has little or no 
effect on the mind. 

Yes, it is very true ; this glorious prospect 
can always be kept in view if we will, and yet 
it is often, very often lost from sight. Now, I 
do not want you to lose sight of it, if others do. 
Your whole spiritual life, goodness, and happi¬ 
ness depend upon your not losing sight of it. 
Therefore, you must, like a prudent person, 
consider within yourself what means you will 
take to keep it always in view. 



CHAPTER VII. 


HOW TO COMMENCE TO GROUND THIS PRIN- 
CIPEE IN THE HEART. 

TN the first place, have you already got the 
A idea of living chiefly for God and His love 
strongly fixed in your mind ? If not, then you 
must begin by getting it so fixed. One cannot 
keep a thing unless one first gets it. 

“ Oh, father ! I fear I have not got it. Tell 
me how it is to be obtained.” 

I am glad you desire it, for the very desire is 
already a beginning. I will tell you now how 
to get well started, and whatever else I shall 
say throughout the book will be telling you 
how to go on with it. 

Well, I know no better way to get a good 
start than to consider and think over these 
things in the mind, with many devout longings 
and desires after God. 

If the beautiful residence that I imagined 
just now were at a considerable distance from 
you, you would strain your eyes to see as much 
of it as you could ; you would walk as near to it 
as possible, and if you had a spy-glass you 
would look at it through that. 

So, in the same way, be thinking in your 

33 


34 


How to Lay the Foundation. 


mind of the great happiness, the immense im¬ 
portance, of fixing your soul in the love of 
Jesus. Be saying to yourself many times (it 
cannot be too many) : ‘ ‘ Oh ! had I only the 
riches of the love of Christ.” Long for the love 
of Christ, and let the exclamation burst often 
from, your lips : “ O Jesus ! Thy love is what I 
want: let all other love, and all the things 
of the world, become irksome and distasteful 
to me, so that only Thy love may rule my 
soul.” 

A few days of such holy longings and heart¬ 
felt wishes would not fail to light up and in¬ 
flame your soul with an ardent desire to love 
God. This desire would make everything that 
tends to increase this love pleasant and agree¬ 
able to you, no matter how unpleasant it might 
be otherwise. 

These impressions would be deepened if you 
would keep yourself quiet, and not allow other 
thoughts and distractions to occupy and dissi¬ 
pate your mind; if you would take care for a 
while to avoid much conversation, and from 
time to time retire, if you have the opportunity, 
to make a special business of this thinking, and 
simple, devout prayer to God. 

If you had any important business of this 
world on your mind, you would be glad to get 
in your room alone, that you might think it 
over without disturbance. In the same way, 



How to Lay the Foundation. 


35 


steal away by yourself to reflect upon this most 
important of all things, quietly and without 
disturbance. 

I can speak from experience as to the effect 
of such a course. I have seen many very care¬ 
less and sinful people, living in the midst of dis¬ 
tractions and occupations, who, being aroused 
by the word of God on a mission, or elsewhere, 
have by a few days of earnest desire and prayer 
become completely changed. Their eyes have 
been opened, so that their former sins have 
become hateful to them and their hearts* on 
fire with the love of God, so that the pleas¬ 
ures of the world were unable to give them 
satisfaction. I have seen them persevere after 
this beginning steadily, year after year, until 
death has put its seal on the blessed work. 

There is an old proverb that “still water 
runs deep ’’ ; so I would advise you to keep 
your mind perfectly quiet and still and.tranquil, 
for then God, the Holy Ghost, will deepen 
every good impression. The devil loves excite¬ 
ment, and hurry, and noise, and passionate 
feeling. Keep clear of these things, then, if 
you wish to advance in goodness. 

Even if you have been a great sinner, do not 
excite 3'ourself too much*. In that case, clear 
your conscience by a humble and sincere con¬ 
fession, in a calm and quiet way, without fret- 
fulness or disturbance of mind, and afterward 



36 


How to Lay the Foundation. 


there need never be any serious anxiety on the 
subject. 

Well, then, I will suppose the conscience at 
rest, and that the only uneasiness the soul has 
is, that it does not love God half as much as it 
desires to—a blessed uneasiness, which causes 
no trouble, but fills the mind with joy. 

We must strive to keep up this desire all the 
time—in peace, however, that the words of the 
Saviour may be fulfilled in us: “ Blessed are 
they that hunger and thirst after justice, for 
they shall be filled” (St. Matt. v. 6). We 
must not merely hunger and thirst after justice 
(which is the same thing as the love of God) 
for a day or a week, and then allow the soul to 
get filled with the world and its desires, but 
manage in such a way that this blessed hunger 
and thirst may go on all the time increasing; 
that it may take up the heart, so that no room 
may be left for anything evil; no relish for any¬ 
thing that does not increase this love, and no 
joy or happiness except it springs from this holy 
longing and desire that possesses the soul. 

L,et us see how we may keep up and increase 
this holy fire after it is once lighted. 



I 


CHAPTER VIII. 

HOW TO INCREASE IN THE EOVE OF GOD, OR 
OF PRAYER IN GENERAE. 

'T'HE way to do this is very plain and simple. 

* There is nothing about it you cannot easily 
understand, nothing you cannot easily do. It 
will depend chiefly on one thing, whether you 
pray , and have regular daily habits of prayer. 

By prayer I do not mean going over the 
words written in a book. No ; there may be 
prayer without the help of a book as well as 
with it. Prayer means to converse or talk with 
God, or, as some say, to raise the soul to God. 

But what shall we talk with Him about? I 
will tell you. Faith teaches us who God is 
and what He is, what He loves and wishes. It 
teaches that He knows all and can do all; that 
He loves us ; that His love for us is very great, 
and that on account of this love He redeemed 
and purchased us with His own blood. It tells 
us that He came down from heaven and became 
one of us, lived here in poverty, and suffered 
and died on the cross to open the gates of 
heaven to us. 

At the same time we know how miserable 
and poor we are of ourselves, and what constant 

37 


38 


Of Prayer in General. 


need we have of help from God to get along, in 
body and soul. 

Do you not see, then, how many things we 
have to talk to God about; how much to think 
about before God? Now, this thinking of God, 
talking with Him, this begging of Him what 
you need, this is prayer; and you can easily 
see that this does not depend on book-learning. 

Indeed, if you are accustomed to use a book 
when you pray, I would advise you not to read 
over the prayers merely, or to go over a great 
many at a time, but to pause from time to time 
as you go along, and to think and talk with God 
as much as you can out of your heart and soul. 

One little prayer with a great deal of heart in 
it, a great deal of the simple talking of the heart 
with God, is worth more than whole pages of 
prayers read off without heart from a book. 

Now let me give you an example of this. An 
old woman came to St. Teresa one day, who 
seemed to have something on her mind that 
made her feel very bad. “What is the mat¬ 
ter ? ’ ’ said the saint. ‘ ‘ O dear ! ’ ’ replied the 
old woman, “ I should like to pray, but I can¬ 
not. I can’t even get through the Ford’s 
Prayer. I begin ‘ Our Father who art in heav¬ 
en’—then I think, my Father in heaven ! Who 
is it that allows me to call Him Father f The 
great and wonderful God! I think a long 
while in astonishment on this. I think what 



Of Prayer in General. 


39 


this name of father means; what love it shows 
on his part; what a happiness it is to have 
such a father. I get running on so in my 
heart that it seems to me I never come to an 
end, and cannot, for the life of me, finish the 
prayer.’ ” 

St. Teresa was full of admiration at the old 
woman’s account of her prayer, and told her to 
go on praying just that very way, for it was* all 
right, and a great favor from God to be able to 
pray in that manner. 

The fact is, prayer is a very simple thing 
and suited to all sorts and conditions of men—to 
the ignorant as well as to those that have learn¬ 
ing ; to those who cannot read as well as to 
those who can ; to children as well as to grown 
people. Indeed, the more simple, childlike, 
unaffected dispositions you bring before God, 
the easier and better will be your prayer. 

So, I do not doubt that there are some good 
girls, with little learning of books, who, from 
their great wish to love God, pray easier, love 
prayer more, and practise it with more con¬ 
stancy and pleasure than many of those who 
have much learning and a great variety of 
books to help them. 

The hermits of the desert were the great mod¬ 
els of prayer. They learned the great secret of 
praying all the time. And who were they? 
Mostly very unlearned and simple people, who, 



40 


Daily Exercises of Prayer . 

while they labored with their hands, in their 
own simple way talked in their hearts with their 
God and Saviour. 

You see, then, you can pray, no matter what 
your condition may be. But in order to pray 
well you must pray regularly and constantly. 
If you have not a habit of praying, the chance is 
you will not pray much. It will slip little by 
little out of your mind, until you drop it en¬ 
tirely. 


CHAPTER IX. 

DAIIyY EXERCISES OF PRAYER.—MORNING 
PRAYER. 

OUT you ask me, At what time should I pray? 
U I answer, Begin in the morning when you 
first get up. Then you are beginning a new 
day. A great number of things will take place 
during that day. It may turn out very much to 
your soul’s advantage, or it may be quite the 
other way. Then it is well early in the morn¬ 
ing to make a good start for the day. If a good 
thought, a holy resolution, or a pious wish gets 
entrance first into your soul, it will go far to 
keep everything right during the day, and make 
it a fruitful one for the love of God and virtue. 

Then, as soon as you can after waking, try to 
think some pious thought or make some pious 





Daily Exercises of Prayer . 


41 


wish. For example: “God keep me from sin 
this day,” or “May I pass this day so that I 
shall be more secure of heaven at night! * ’ 

When you wash your face and hands, say 
“Wash me more and more from my sins.” 
When you dress, say “ Clothe me with justice, 
with true virtues, that I may be pleasing in Thy 
sight.” Such practices are very good; they 
have a greater effect than they seem to have at 
the time, and prepare the soul for prayer. 

When you are dressed, try to get a little time 
to kneel down and make a prayer to God, to re¬ 
commend yourself to Him, to beg His protection 
for the day, to make a good intention to please 
God in all you do or have to suffer. 

“ Oh ! but I have no time for this. My work 
is so hard and so pressing. The breakfast must 
be got so early; I must get off to my work in a 
hurry.” Well, I know this will often be the 
case—a poor girl will hardly have time, as they 
say, to turn around; but for all that, take a 
little time to pray. God will accept a little 
under such circumstances, and give as much 
grace as if you had spent more time, for he sees 
that you have trouble to give Him even that 
little. 

Get up five minutes earlier and give Him 
that five minutes, and you cannot tell what a 
benefit it will draw down upon your soul. If 
you had a dear friend who was going away 



42 


Morning Prayer . 


early in the morning, how gladly you would 
leave your bed half an hour earlier to bid him 
good-by. Why not, then, devote at least a few 
minutes of your sleeping time, if necessary, in 
order that you may talk with the Blessed 
Saviour, and get your heart bent and inclined 
to spend the whole day cheerfully and joyfully 
in His service. 


CHAPTER X. 

CONTINUATION. 

B UT sometimes one gets up, as they say, 
wrong foot foremost—that is, one feels so 
out of sorts, so cross and ill-natured, that one 
hardly knows what to do with one’s self. At 
such times everything looks dark, and is likely 
to go wrong ; and many a poor girl who has not 
the habit of turning to God in prayer is turned 
all that day to evil, to passion, to dark and mel¬ 
ancholy and wicked thoughts. Many a one has 
lost a good place by simply giving way to such 
feelings. 

It is on such occasions, and they will happen 
to every one sometimes, that we see the power 
and loveliness of the habit of offering one’s self 
with fervor to God in the morning. As soon as 
this dark and melancholy humor comes over one> 
this offering changes it all into a sweet and calm 
resignation to the holy will of God. 




Morning Prayer. 


43 


The dreariness of the world inspires a longing 
for God and heaven, and all that would foster 
sin and evil habits of passion now only draws 
and unites one more closely to God, according 
to Holy Scripture: “All things work together 
for good to those who love the Lord ” (Rom. 
viii. 28). 

Then never mind how you feel in the morn¬ 
ing ; if you are out of sorts, if you feel ill- 
humored and cross, if you feel even wicked and 
inclined to evil, if praying is burdensome to 
you—go right on, all the same ; cast yourself on 
God your Saviour; tell Him that at least you 
desire to be good ; that you will not give way 
to these evil feelings, that you cannot help 
them ; but you wish to be always mild, and 
good, and gentle, and ask the grace that you 
may go on and do your duty, and imitate your 
Lord the same as if you felt ever so devout. 

I cannot tell you how much you gain by such 
a course. These are the very times when we 
triumph over the devil, when we are dearest to 
God, advance the most in virtue, and go farthest 
in fixing the soul, so that it cannot be moved, 
in all that is good. Then, on no account, 
though your occupation may give you little 
time, omit this offering of yourself to God in the 
morning, and unite yourself to Him with fervor 
and with your whole soul. 

All this is not so easy at first because you are 



44 


Renewal of Good Intention. 


not accustomed to it, but it will soon become 
easy, and you will get so used to it and so fond 
of it that you would as soon lose your breakfast 
as to omit it. If called away suddenly from 
your prayers, your heart would continue to 
speak to God, though your hands and feet were 
occupied with something else, and you would 
perhaps pray with more fervor than if you had 
plenty of time at your own disposal. 


CHAPTER XI. 

RENEWAL OF GOOD INTENTION. 

W EEE, now, suppose the day begun in this 
way, and that with a cheerful and, so to 
speak, sweetened heart you go about your daily 
labor or occupation. Many a long hour stretches 
out before you, and many a distracting thing 
will happen before the day closes. What shall 
we do in order not to forget or lose sight of those 
pious morning resolutions ? 

The holy Apostle St. Paul tells us we must 
‘ ‘ pray without ceasing. ’ ’ And if we could carry 
out his precept we should surely be in no dan¬ 
ger, since the Eord has promised, and His 
promise will surely be fulfilled: ‘ ‘ Ask and ye 
shall receive, ” “ Call on me and I will help you. ’ ’ 
But who can pray without ceasing when 
work must go on ? When that work takes up 




Renewal of Good Intention . 


45 


one’s time and attention completely, when one 
can hardly think of anything else, sometimes, 
for a good while together? That certainly 
seems asking too much, and more than we can 
do. Now I do not ask any more than you can 
do, nor any more than I know you will be glad 
to do, if you have made a good prayer in the 
morning. 

I said that one should make a good intention 
in the morning to please God by all one’s ac¬ 
tions or sufferings during the day. That is 
beautifully expressed in some such words as 
these : “ O my God ! I offer to Thee all the 
thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings of this 
day, in union with those of Jesus Christ, with 
the intention of doing everything only to please 
Thee.’* 

You see how beforehand, by a pious inten¬ 
tion and desire of the heart, you have offered all 
that may happen during the day to the Lord, 
and joined all your actions to those of Jesus 
Christ ; that is, you desire to behave in all 
things just as Jesus Christ would wish you to 
behave, or, what is the same thing, to please 
Him and His heavenly Father. 

Now, that good desire is accepted by God and 
laid to your credit. And although afterwards 
you may do many things without actually think¬ 
ing of God, such as eating, drinking, cooking, 
sewing, standing beside the noisy machine, 



4 6 


Renewal of Good Intention. 


scrubbing, taking care of children, or any other 
duty, yet that morning’s good intention spreads 
over them, covers them all with the virtue of 
holy prayer, and makes them good in His 
sight. 

We “ pray without ceasing” through these 
good intentions. Our sleep is a prayer, if we 
make an intention to rest ourselves for God’s 
glory, that we may be in better health and 
strength to serve Him and do our duty. So our 
eating and drinking, by the same kind of inten¬ 
tion, is sanctified and made holy in the sight 
of God. 

Then, always make that good intention in the 
morning, and renew it from time to time dur¬ 
ing the day ; saying, “ Let all my actions be to 
please my God, ’ ’ or something else.like it. This 
will soon become natural to you, for having set 
out to talk with God, He will want to talk with 
you. 

God, the Holy Ghost, will in His still and 
quiet way put many a good thought and many 
a good desire in your heart, many a holy sigh 
and devout prayer on your tongue. All you will 
have to do will be to listen to that still voice, 
which will continually be saying to you, “Do 
this, it is pleasing to God” ; “ Let that alone, 
it will hurt your soul ” ; “ Pray now a little, 
that you may keep your soul fixed on your 
God,” and many other such things. 



Renewal of Good Intention. 


47 


These short prayers, which the Holy Ghost 
will put in your mind from time to time, will 
keep your soul awake to God and attentive to 
please Him, so that you may with truth be said 
to pray without ceasing, even if for some time 
you are not conscious of making an actual 
prayer. 

Especially in any time of temptation, when 
sin of any sort seems pleasant or good to you, 
will the voice of the Holy Ghost be heard in 
your soul. “ Child of God, beware ! that is a 
sinful thing ; pray, oh, pray ! for grace to avoid 
it.” Make a habit of attending to that voice 
within you, of shutting your eyes and ears and 
your whole mind to that evil temptation. Raise 
your soul quickly to God, and cry out, “ L,ord 
Jesus, help me ! let me not fall into this or any 
sin ! ’ ’ or simply repeat with devout mind the 
holy names, Jesus ! Mary ! 

That cry will quickly reach heaven, and God 
will send His help and put the temptation to 
flight. 

It is exceedingly important to get in the 
habit of praying short and fervent prayers at 
such times. By them we get a great victory 
over the enemies of the soul, and great strength 
to persevere, instead of being taken captive and 
led away in chains, to suffer all that the wicked 
enemy chooses to put upon us. 



CHAPTER XII. 


OF PRAYER DURING THE DAY. 

B ESIDES the times of temptation, if at other 
times you feel devout, and God stirs up 
in your heart a desire to pray, you need not 
feel afraid to give way to it. If you could think 
of God the greater part of your time, there is no 
harm, but the greatest blessing and the greatest 
joy in so doing. 

If you can think a good thought, or wish a 
good wish, in the midst of your cooking or 
working or house-cleaning or factory-work, be 
thankful to God for the favor, and make the 
most of it. It is certainly far better to remem¬ 
ber God and eternal things than to be whirled 
about with a continual excitement in regard to 
matters of no consequence, and to be forgetful 
of Him, as some are, from morning till night, 
from day to day, from week to week, until they 
almost forget they are Christians. 

No: do you go on a different principle; 
deepen and strengthen good thoughts on all oc¬ 
casions. Eet the life of our Eord Jesus Christ 
here on earth be ever before you. Love to 
dwell on the particulars of His actions, as they 
are written down in the Scriptures. 

48 


Prayer during the Day. 


49 


If your work comes hard, remember how He 
carried a heavy cross all the way up Mount Cal¬ 
vary. If any one speaks evil of you, see Him 
hanging on His cross, and the rabble under¬ 
neath calling Him every vile name they could 
think of. If tired and weary, think how He, 
after a long, weary travel, had no place where 
He could lay His head. 

Go over His blessed, humble, charitable con¬ 
versations and discourses, that you may always 
be learning something new, for your own in¬ 
crease in goodness and in the love of God. 

Sometimes it may nourish your soul to think 
of our Blessed Lady. Imagine her as she goes 
about the house, always ready to do everything 
that duty requires of her, always so quiet and 
peaceable, always taking such delight in doing 
everything that could please her Maker, and in 
doing it in the most perfect manner; always so 
sweet and obliging to all her fellow-creatures. 
She is, indeed, in a special way an example to 
you, for it was in doing very much the same 
things that are required of you that she made 
herself so dear to God. 

Be sure to take advantage of all the usual op¬ 
portunities of calling God to mind. For exam¬ 
ple, do not sit down to eat without blessing the 
food, and do not rise up without giving thanks 
for it. Our meals in this way become a sort of 
station or stopping place, to recall to our minds 



50 


Night Prayers . 


what we are striving never to forget or lose 
sight of. They are very proper and suitable 
stations, too, since we should get ourselves in 
the habit of thanking God for all His mercies, 
and all the means of sustaining this life, which 
is given for gaining eternal life hereafter. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

OF NIGHT PRAYERS. 

N OW let us suppose the day has gone by ; 

that you have done your work; that 
everything has been put in order, and that you 
have some time to yourself. If the day has 
been spent in the way I have been endeavoring 
to point out, in remembering God and convers¬ 
ing with Him from time to time amidst your 
work, I am sure there is a fire of love burning 
in your heart. You have been so busy that you 
could not let it blaze up ; it has been smoulder¬ 
ing like live coals covered up with ashes, but all 
ready to burst out in a bright and warm blaze. 

Now, then, is the good time to rake off those 
ashes, to put on some fresh fuel and let the fire 
burn brightly. Yes! nothing interferes with 
the free attention of the soul to God; all the 
world is hushed and the darkness of night only 
seems to make God nearer to us. We feel our 




Night Prayers . 


51 


own helplessness; what mere nothings we are, 
and God seems all and everything. We under¬ 
stand then more clearly how great, how wonder¬ 
ful, how wise, and how good He is. This is in¬ 
deed a golden time to raise the soul to God. 

Brother Gerard, a lay brother of the Congre¬ 
gation of the Most Holy Redeemer, used to 
spend whole nights looking up at the stars so 
bright and wonderful, his heart perfectly filled 
with love and admiration for God their Creator. 
Of course you cannot do the like, but the sol¬ 
emn silence of the night invites you to set apart 
some time, and a more considerable time than at 
any other part of the day, to devote it to God 
and your soul. 

Then you can cast a look back at the day 
that has passed, to see how you have spent it; 
to see what has been wrong, that you may be 
sorry for it and sincerely resolve to amend it. 
Recall to mind what good you have done, that 
you may humbly thank God for it; for it is in¬ 
deed a source of joy if we have done well, 
though we must remember that all good comes 
from the Holy Ghost, and that without Him we 
could not so much as think a good thought. 

This is a time, too, to thank God for all His 
mercies and for all you have had to suffer, since 
that is a mercy, if you did but know it; to rec¬ 
ommend yourself to His protection for the night, 
and to give yourself body and soul to Him; to 



52 


Night Prayers. 


offer Him your life, and your death, at whatever 
time and in whatever manner may be most 
pleasing to Him. 

Now, there is one caution I must give you, in 
order that all my advice about your night pray¬ 
ers may not turn out useless. It is a plain 
thing, but most important. You should have a 
regular hour for retiring and preparing yourself 
for your night’s rest, and that hour ought not to 
be a late one. Late hours are the destruction 
of piety. Fix your hour, and when it comes 
around retire, that you may commune with God. 

Do not run out visiting every evening. If 
you go out now and then to see your friends and 
acquaintances, be sure to finish your visit in 
good time, and get home again at your regular 
hour for retiring. In the same way, if visitors 
come to see you, do not let them stay too late. 
Remind them kindly that it is getting late, and 
that you are obliged to retire. Bid them good¬ 
night, and let them go home, so that they may 
get to understand that it is no use to come to 
see you at an unreasonable time. 

This is very important, for how can a poor 
girl talk and talk all the evening until a late 
hour, without every good impression being 
driven out of her soul ? After such an evening, 
when she kneels down to pray she will find her¬ 
self quite distracted ; not a good thought will be 
likely to come into her mind. All the affairs of 



Objections Answered . 


53 


Mary, or John and William, or Mrs. This or 
Mrs. That, a heap of idle, nonsensical thoughts, 
will be chasing one another in her poor dis¬ 
tracted head. 

It may be sinful temptations will get such a 
firm hold on her imagination that the devil will 
be sure to bring her into some sin, while much 
of that holy peacefulness that reigned in her 
soul before is lost. 

Shun, then, late hours, shun idle gossiping, 
slanderous and sinful talk ; and keep your soul 
in such a state that when the blessed hour ar¬ 
rives to pray, you may find yourself ready, and 
in a fit mood to enjoy the conversation of God 
your Saviour. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

“AH!” you say, “ it would be very well if 
^ we could spend our day in pious thoughts 
and prayer as you have laid it out for us; but if 
you were obliged, as we are, to work in the 
kitchen, or in the noisy mill, or to stand at the 
counter all day, you would soon see that it is 
much easier to give these directions than to 
carry them out. You would see that it is a 
hard thing to recollect one’s self at all.” 

I can well imagine a good-hearted, well-dis- 




54 


Objections Answered. 


posed girl, whose temper is lively and some¬ 
what impatient, and who w 7 ants to do every¬ 
thing at once, saying something of this kind, 
at least in her mind. Now, I say to her, You 
are mistaken. Work, and hard work too, will 
not interfere with the daily life I have laid 
down for you. I do not mean to say that you 
can learn to follow it out perfectly all at once, 
so that nothing will be left to improve upon. 
Nothing is done just in that way. 

It took you many years to grow to your full 
height. First you were a little, baby, and could 
not help yourself. Then you had to toddle 
about and to walk. Afterwards you were a 
little girl without much wit in your head, and 
could not work or maintain yourself, but you 
kept on growing little by little; you kept on 
eating your food and growing, though nobody 
could see you grow, until little by little you 
came to be what you are now, with the full use 
of body and mind. 

These holy practices of prayer will be imper¬ 
fect, perhaps, in the beginning, but they will 
grow. You may not see how they grow from 
day to day, it is such a gradual thing ; but after 
some time you can look back and see very 
plainly that you have made progress, and that 
spiritual things have taken root in your soul, 
and the tree of your salvation is growing strong 
and healthy. Tet me give you an example to 



Objections Answered. 55 

show you that much work, and hard work, can¬ 
not prevent your raising your soul constantly to 
God. 

St. Catherine of Siena, when very young, 
just verging upon the age of womanhood, was 
very pious, prayed a great deal, and occupied 
her thoughts with God and heavenly things. 
She had such a clear insight into the vanity of 
all earthly things that she determined to live 
only for Jesus Christ, and never to marry. 
This did not please her mother and the rest of 
the family. Her eldest married sister had died 
suddenly, and they were anxious that Catherine 
should accept a very advantageous offer, and so 
take her sister’s place in the family. 

But she would not listen to such a proposal, 
and to show how fixed her resolution was she 
cut off her hair, which was very beautiful. 
The whole family felt highly displeased. They 
considered her much too pious. They knew 
they could do nothing while she prayed so 
much, so what did they hit upon ? They con¬ 
cluded to load her down with work. They sent 
away the servant, and made her do all the work 
of the house. 

Another person was placed in her room, so 
that she should never be alone at any time, and 
they always contrived to send for her, and 
break up her prayers, when she was seen to 
commence them. Do you think they succeeded 





56 


Objections Answered. 


in cooling her love for God, or lessening her 
prayer? Not at all. She went on quietly as 
before, did all her work, and prayed at the 
same time, in that simple, short way I have re¬ 
commended, and made more progress in the 
love of God than ever before. She did not al¬ 
low herself to be disturbed, for she built a little 
room for herself in her own heart, to which she 
retired very frequently, and there she always 
found the Holy Ghost waiting for her, and help¬ 
ing her to pray. 

They drove her out of her room, it is true, 
but they could not drive her out of her own 
heart, where God has His dwelling ; as the 
Scripture says : “ The kingdom of God is with¬ 
in you” (St. Luke xvii. 21). And again: 
“ All the glory of the king’s daughter is with¬ 
in ” (Ps. xliv. 14). 

That is true ; all the work in the world can¬ 
not hinder you from admiring, loving, and seek¬ 
ing God; cannot hinder you from begging God 
for His grace and love. It cannot hinder you 
from being daughters of the heavenly King, if 
your beauty is within, in the soul; if you make 
yourselves beautiful in His sight, by keeping 
your hearts directed to Him in the midst of your 
occupations, while you are ready to give more 
time and attention to prayer, as soon as your 
leisure permits you to do so. 



CHAPTER XV. 


ADVANTAGE OF SPENDING SUNDAY WEED. 



have seen how to spend the day, united 


** to God by devout sighs and aspirations 
and holy prayers, amidst all the employments 
of busy life. 

Every week, by God’s appointment, there 
comes around a day especially devoted to His 
service, and the refreshment of our souls—the 
Sunday—when labor ceases, in great measure, 
to give place to devotion and innocent recrea¬ 
tion. 

What a blessing this is from God ! We may 
compare it to the oasis in the desert. The 
weary traveller, in eastern countries, sometimes 
has to make his way through vast regions of 
barren, heated sand, with no springs of refresh¬ 
ing water, no trees to shade him from the sun, 
no cool breezes, often for many days, until he is 
ready to sink down from fatigue and exhaus¬ 
tion ; his tongue parched with thirst; his blood 
on fire with the heat. 

In these regions, scattered here and there, 
are beautiful spots, where clear, fresh water 
springs from the ground; where delightful 
fruits, oranges, lemons, dates, grew in great 


57 


58 


Spending Sunday Well. 


abundance, and the air is cooled by the water 
springs. 

How these travellers long to find these spots! 
When the camels and other beasts of burden 
snuff the air from a distance, they forget their 
fatigue, they run with eagerness to quench their 
thirst at the cool fountains, and to enjoy the 
fresh grass. Their owners, with no less de¬ 
light, stop a day, or several of them, to recruit 
their strength and cheer up their spirits, that 
they may be enabled to continue their way until 
they reach another of these refreshing places. 
So, they hope, finally, to get through the weari¬ 
someness of the whole journey, and successfully 
gain all they had in view in setting out. 

Our Sundays are to us such cool, delightful 
spots in the journey of life. The soul is weary 
of the dust and heat of the world. The soul is 
fatigued with having so many things to do, and 
longs for opportunity to rest in God; to satisfy 
the thirst it has for God. It longs for the cool 
fountain and the refreshing waters. 

Where are they ? In the house of God, in 
the very place where He dwells. There is the 
altar of God in the church, His house : the 
burning lights are around it, flowers decorate it, 
devout worshippers surround it, and all invites 
the soul to pray. 

But what are all the lights and flowers com¬ 
pared to Him who is present in their midst? 



Spending Sunday Well. 


59 


The Lord of Glory, the Blessed Saviour Him¬ 
self, is there. He has come down on that altar 
to offer Himself for us ; to pray to His heavenly 
Father by His wounds and blood most effectually 
for us, and to remain in the midst of us to hear 
our prayers and talk with us face to face. 

Thus, the Sunday is the time, and the 
church is the place, for the soul’s weekly rest. 
The good girl, who longs for God’s love, will 
not pass it by. God in His mercy has com¬ 
manded that we should take advantage of it. 
“ Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” 
The church, of which the Lord said, “ He that 
heareth you heareth me” (St. Luke x. 16), 
which is in Christ’s place, now that Christ has 
ascended into heaven, has changed this tirneof 
rest from the seventh to the first day of the 
week, in honor of the Lord’s rising from the 
dead on that day. 

The Sabbath of the Jews has given place to 
the Christian Sunday, but the obligation of 
keeping one day in the week holy remains the 
same. We are bound, then, by the law of God 
to do so. But in what way are Christians re¬ 
quired to keep the day holy, in order that they 
may not sin against this law ? This question I 
will answer in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER XVI. 


OF WORKING ON SUNDAY. 

W E are required to abstain from servile or 
hard labor, that is to say, from labor 
of the hands, and to assist at least once at the 
Holy Mass on the Sunday. But we must under¬ 
stand what is meant by being forbidden to work 
on that day. Necessary work, such as belongs 
to the good order of the house—cooking, mak¬ 
ing beds, sweeping, and putting things in 
order—is not forbidden. 

The care of the sick is a necessary and chari¬ 
table work. Sometimes, unless work is done, 
valuable property would go to destruction. In 
all these cases work must be done ; and it would 
be displeasing to God should you refuse to do it 
on the plea that it is wrong to work on the 
Sunday. 

Indeed, as a general rule, for those who live 
out, the mistress of the house is a proper judge 
of what is necessary and what not. She knows 
many reasons that you do not know, and it is 
not proper to make her give an account of every¬ 
thing to those in her employment. That would 
be upsetting the order of things that the Eord 
has established when He says : ‘ ‘ Servants, be 

60 


Working on Sunday. 


6 


obedient unto your masters according to the 
flesh” (Eph. vi. 5). 

So, if anything of no very great importance 
comes up, do it cheerfully ; and, depend upon it, 
the responsibility will not be on your shoulders. 
On the contrary, the Eord will look on your 
mild and peaceable disposition, free from all 
strife and contention, so much like His own, 
and reward it with special graces. 

It is quite another thing when you put off 
your own work until Sunday. This depends on 
your own will; and therefore you, and not any 
one else, will have to answer for it. To devote 
Sunday to making up articles of dress, or to 
a general mending of clothes, is very wrong. 

And even if you live in the country, where 
you cannot attend Mass, the case is not altered ; 
for the command, “Six days shalt thou labor 
and do all thy work, ’ ’ applies as well to such 
cases as to any others. The day everywhere 
is intended to be devoted to the service of God, 
and not to work. 

But suppose your employer has no sense of 
what is proper; makes no distinction between 
Sunday and another day ; loads you down with 
work that, it is clear, could as well be done 
another day : what is to be done in that case ? 

Keep quiet, do not fly into a rage, but quiet¬ 
ly look around for another place. It may be 
that, if you spoke about it quietly and without 




62 


Working on Sunday. 


passion, it would be set right; but if not, look 
out for another place, where the Lord’s day is 
respected, and when you have found one, give 
notice peaceably and quietly of your intention to 
leave. 

Perhaps the employer may ask the reason. 
Do not let your feelings get the upper hand, but 
tell them with the utmost calmness that your 
religion requires you to avoid unnecessary work 
on the Sunday ; that you find so little regard 
paid to God’s commandment in regard to this, 
that you cannot remain longer. Who knows 
but that such a mild and firm answer may pro¬ 
duce a happy change, and take away the diffi¬ 
culty ? If so, the next girl who comes into 
their service will not be troubled in the same 
way. 

I need say no more about labor on Sundays, 
for your own good sense and, more than all, the 
light of the Holy Ghost, which is given to all 
who sincerely ask it, must direct you as to the 
rest. 



CHAPTER XVII. 


ON ATTENDANCE AT MASS.—EXCUSES FOR 
NEGLECTING IT. 

HY has the Almighty required His people 



* * to abstain from labor on Sunday ? Surely 
it was not in order that they might be quite idle 
and listless. No ! It was in order to afford us 
a better chance to worship Him and to attend 
to their souls. Therefore, along with the absti¬ 
nence from labor is the command to attend to 
God’s service, by hearing at least once the Holy 
Mass on that day. 

How a well-principled girl can neglect this 
duty is more than I can conceive. How can 
she be determined to worship God in spirit and 
in truth, and yet neglect the very highest and 
best act of worship it is possible to pay ? 

This is just what the Holy Mass is, in which 
our Eord Jesus Christ Himself, true God and 
true man, comes down from heaven upon our 
altar to offer Himself in sacrifice for our sins, 
and to give Himself to us in Communion; to 
renew the very action which He performed when 
He died for us upon the cross. We are proper¬ 
ly required, then, to assist at this most impor- 


6 4 


Attendance at Mass. 


tant action, and not let the day go by without 
having discharged this duty. 

You must do so according to the very best 
of your ability. I say according to the best of 
your ability, because I know that every one 
cannot go to Mass every Sunday. Still, I am 
told by a very truthful and judicious girl, who 
has had a good deal of experience herself, and 
is largely acquainted with the circumstances of 
others, that it is rarely the case, at least in 
cities and towns, that a good girl who desires 
it cannot go to Mass every Sunday. 

I believe she spoke the truth, and that where 
there is a will there is a way, and that with a 
little good management at least one Mass can 
be heard on each Sunday. In our large cities 
and towns there are often so many Masses at 
different hours of the morning that one could 
select the most convenient, and attend it with¬ 
out neglecting any duty at home. 

It may be necessary to rise early, it is true; 
for there are some girls who cannot well attend 
any Mass unless they get to the first one. Well, 
then, get up with cheerfulness and attend to 
your duty; you will have time enough to rest 
another part of the day. 

I have not much patience with the sleepy¬ 
heads, who sleep away their precious time, 
when duty calls them to be awake. I am sure 
they cannot have much patience with them- 



Attendance at Mass . 


65 


selves. They must feel out of sorts and misera¬ 
ble to think they have had so little courage, and 
so little conscience, as to lie in their beds when 
they know perfectly well they ought to be up, 
and that God’s voice is calling them away to 
the church. 

My dear good girl, no matter how comforta¬ 
ble the bed may be, no matter how little inclina¬ 
tion you may feel to go out, rise at once; seize 
the opportunity to hear Mass. Be found among 
the devout worshippers kneeling before the al¬ 
tar, and the good God will not forget it. 

The habit of obeying the voice of God in this 
respect will help you in other respects, and on 
other occasions. You will be laying solidly the 
foundations of that mansion which shall be 
yours eternally in the heavens. 

Sometimes your going to Mass will depend 
on your asking permission, or giving notice in 
order that matters may be arranged so as to al¬ 
low you to go. Many a girl keeps silent and 
loses Mass. Now, that is not right. It is your 
duty to speak. 

It is well to have an understanding on the 
subject when you enter service at a place, that 
everybody may be satisfied afterwards. Inquire 
modestly what can be allowed in this respect, 
and, depend upon it, your employers will think 
all the more of you for it. 

It happened once that, after a Mission, one 



66 


Attendance at Mass. 


of the missionaries had occasion to call on a 
Protestant acquaintance. In the course of the 
conversation the priest remarked: “I fear the 
constant attendance of your domestics at the 
Mission has put your wife to some inconven¬ 
ience.” “Yes, it has caused some inconven¬ 
ience,” was the reply, “but we are glad to 
suffer it, for we know well that the best girls are 
those who attend to their religious duties the 
best. We feel it to be right to offer to others 
the privileges which we prize so much for our¬ 
selves.” 

Every right-minded employer will have such 
sentiments, and they are held far more com¬ 
monly than we give them credit for. I do not 
like to hear of a Catholic girl going off to Mass 
secretly and slily, as if she were doing some¬ 
thing to be ashamed of. No! let her say openly 
when she is going, and I am confident that in 
most cases there will be every disposition to ar¬ 
range things according to her wishes. 

Sometimes, where there are a number of girls 
in the same family, they could all attend Mass, 
if a spirit of charity prevailed among them, 
and a disposition to accommodate one another. 
Why should they not change places sometimes, 
and one do the other’s work while she goes to 
Mass? How much better is this than that 
cross and snappish spirit which makes one flare 
up with pride and anger, and say, “ No, I will 



Attendance at Mass . 


67 


not! ” “You attend to your own work, and I 
will to mine.” “ I won’t wash dishes for any¬ 
body.” “I won’t have anything to do with 
taking care of the child. I don’t want to be 
troubled with the cross thing.” “I’m going to 
Mass. What do I care whether you go or not ?” 
“I’m not obliged to be looking out for you.” 
How hateful such things are in the sight of 
God, who came down from heaven to do good to 
us all, who has enjoined on us so often to love 
one another, and to be solicitous for one an¬ 
other’s happiness! Is this “bearing one an¬ 
other’s burdens,” that so we “may fulfil the 
law of Christ? ” (Gal. v. 2). I think not, and I 
fear that she who attends to her religious duties 
with such a spirit will get very little profit from 
them. 

The truth is, some girls are glad enough of 
an excuse to keep away from Mass. They pre¬ 
tend their duties keep them back, and they 
could go, after all, well enough if they chose to 
make arrangements to do so. 

And here let me caution you as to another 
fault. A girl is in a good place, where she can 
and does go to Mass every Sunday, but now 
and then something occurs to prevent it. She 
straightway flies into a passion, and declares 
her intention to quit her place. I know such an 
instance. 

A girl had been living some time in a place 



68 


Attendance at Mass. 


where she was treated with every indulgence, 
and allowed to go to Mass every Sunday. She 
had not been required to remain at home a sin¬ 
gle time until the lady of the house, who was 
very sick and near to death, required her help 
one Sunday, after the others had been ex¬ 
hausted in watching. Immediately she refused 
with great anger; declaring she would not lose 
Mass for anybody or anything, and that she 
would not continue to live in the place any 
longer. 

There was no obligation to hear Mass under 
such circumstances, as she ought to have 
known, and such conduct was scandalous, giv¬ 
ing a very false and hateful aspect to our holy 
faith, which we all know enjoins the utmost 
charity to the sick and suffering. That girl’s 
own conscience told her this, for she came the 
next day acknowledging her fault and asking 
forgiveness. 

When pride and ill-temper put on the cloak 
of piety and duty, they are more hateful than in 
their own dress, for then they bring dishonor 
upon religion and God. 




CHAPTER XVIII. 


EXCUSES FOR NOT ATTENDING MASS. 

T WILE tell you another reason why many do 
* not go to Mass regularly, as they ought. 
They have no seat in the church, and of course 
they do not feel at home there. If they had a 
place to go to, they would not feel ashamed, as 
they do now, to be seen kneeling in the aisles, 
or be afraid of being turned out because they 
are taking up a seat that another has paid for, 
and which they fear they must give up as soon 
as he makes his appearance. 

It is true there is no class of Catholics bet¬ 
ter, on the whole, in this respect, than girls who 
work. They generally do have a home in the 
church, and it is a real pleasure to see them 
there, with so much devotion, and evidently so 
delighted to be near our Blessed Lord and His 
Holy Mother. 

But some, and perhaps a good many, have no 
seat, and it is for this reason that they often, 
and very often too, neglect their duty. Now 
and then conscience speaks loudly to them, and 
forces them to go to Mass. And then what will 
you see ? A young woman kneeling in the 
aisle, dressed perhaps in a lilac silk, with a pink 

69 


70 


Excuses. 


satin bonnet, and an ostrich feather sticking out 
at the top of it. What a sight! She is so poor 
she cannot afford to pay a small sum for a seat 
in the house of God, and why not ? Every cent 
she can get is laid out in finery to put on her 
back, and, to tell the truth, she would look 
much better without it. 

This reminds me of an excuse that is often 
made: “I do not attend Mass, for my clothes 
are not suitable.” I imagine very few girls, 
who have work, will be inclined to say any such 
thing, and if they do, I hardly think they can 
be saying the strict truth. 

Decent clothes may be necessary, but not 
fine ones. The church is the last place to go 
to, to show off. Many say their clothes are not 
good enough, when what they have on is quite 
as good as pious and virtuous ladies are content 
to wear. 

Others say : “ I did not go to Mass because I 
had no shoes to wear. ’ ’ And why not ? Be¬ 
cause they have neglected to provide them. So 
they go week after week, neglecting their duty 
out of sheer laziness and inattention. 

If tempted to vanity on the score of clothing, 
remember the Blessed Virgin. The thought of 
her will put all such proud and foolish notions 
out of your head. 

Another says she has missed Mass because 
something happened, just as she was getting 



Excuses . 


71 


ready to go, that put her out of temper, and she 
felt so confused and ‘ ‘ all of a tremble ’ ’ that 
she just stayed at home. “ What use would it 
be to go in such a state of mind?” she says. 
All the use in the world. What! because 
one sin is committed, shall we give ourselves 
headlong to commit many others ? That is in¬ 
deed a poor way to get along. No such reason 
excuses you from your obligation. 

The right thing for you to say is: “I am 
bound to attend Mass; whether I was right or 
wrong, whether I am cross or happy, I will 
go.” It is better to go even with angry feel¬ 
ings, and avoid the sin of losing Mass, than to 
stay away. 

Depend upon it, if you act on this principle, 
before you reach the church your resentment 
will begin to disappear. A few words of 
prayer : ‘ ‘ God, help me”; “ J esus, teach me * *; 
“My Mother Mary, pray for me,” will set 
everything right again ; and the very spirit of 
the humble Jesus, the L,amb of God, will fill 
you with consolation. 

I11 all our troubles, afflictions, trials, risings 
of passion or temptations, the surest help is to 
have recourse to God in the church, and espe¬ 
cially in time of Holy Mass. Bend your whole 
heart to the performance of this duty. 

This command to assist at Mass must not be 
misunderstood. It is different from the Com- 



72 


Excuses. 


mandments that forbid blasphemy, impurity, 
dishonesty, and such like things. These are 
evil in themselves, and can never be lawful. 
But the obligation to hear Mass may be taken 
away by a good and sufficient reason, as I have 
said already. 

In many places and situations it will not be 
possible to go every Sunday. In the country 
where there is no church it may happen that 
we cannot go except rarely. When you do 
your best, and would gladly go always if you 
could, God will accept the will for the deed. 

Oftentimes the hermits, who served God in 
the desert, could not hear Mass for a long time ; 
still they grew dearer to God and holier every 
day. St. Mary of Egypt for many a long 
year had to forego the happiness of hearing 
Mass, yet she became a wonderful saint, filled 
with the spirit of God. 

In cases where you cannot attend Mass, en¬ 
deavor to join yourself, by your prayers, to 
those who do. Keep your soul quiet and re¬ 
collected more that day than any other. Keep 
your room, if you can, a part of the day, read 
something pious, and I assure you God will 
make up to you all you would have gained 
by hearing the Mass. 

But, if you have the chance, attend Vespers. 
Our Lord is present in the Blessed Sacrament; 
you can at that time adore Him, and pour out 




How to Assist at Mass. 


7 3 


your soul before Him. Although it is not so 
binding a duty as to hear Mass, it is a great 
help to the soul to attend to it. Every girl who 
is anxious to give her heart to God, will go to 
Vespers as well as Mass if she has the oppor¬ 
tunity. It is a solemn service of the Church, 
and a great blessing attends its observance. 
Ah ! we need as much grace as we can get to 
keep our hearts fixed on God. Is it not better 
to be in his house than to be gadding about, 
and losing in idle talk the good influences 
which the day is expected to leave behind it ? 

Morning and evening, let us not begrudge 
to give to God our praise and thanksgiving ; 
then we shall be able with more satisfied minds 
to enjoy innocent conversation and recreation, a 
walk, or a visit t$ friends or relations, at other 
times of the day. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

HOW TO ASSIST AT MASS. 

‘ ‘ U OW shall I spend my time at Mass ? It 
Al seems sometimes so long, I do not 
know what to do. My mind is filled with dis¬ 
tractions? ” 

It is a simple matter to attend at Mass. 
You come to worship God and to pray. No 
particular way of doing so is laid down. Each 




74 


How to Assist at Mass . 


one is free to do those things that come most 
natural to him. Some say the Rosary, and 
occupy their minds with good thoughts while 
they do so. Others have a book with prayers 
for Mass, which they follow; all this is very 
well. Others get to understand the meaning 
of the different parts of the Mass, and they 
follow the Holy Sacrifice better with such 
prayers as they find in their own hearts. 

For example, at the “ Confiteor ” they strike 
their breasts with the priest, and are sorry for 
all their sins, and make acts of contrition. At 
the “Offertory,” when the bread and wine are 
offered to God to be used in the Sacrifice, they 
offer themselves body, soul, memory, will, and 
understanding, all that they are, all that they 
have, and all that they hope for, to God, that 
He may do what He pleases with them; and 
determining that all shall be devoted to Him, 
and used in his service. All this will take up 
a good deal of time, and be very profitable. 

When the bell is rung the first time, that is, 
at the “Sanctus,” they can begin to think 
more especially of God, of His greatness and 
goodness, of His majesty and love, and their 
own lowness and meanness in comparison. 
This will bring them along to the “Elevation,” 
when the Holy Host and the Chalice, our Eord 
Jesus Christ Himself, is elevated or raised on 
high by the priest. Then they can simply 



Hozv to Assist at Mass. 


75 


bend down their bodies, and their souls at the 
same time, in a simple, profound, deep act of 
worship and adoration of God, who is elevated 
on high on purpose to receive it. After the 
elevation we can prepare for the ‘ ‘ Com¬ 
munion” that follows, when the priest receives 
the most Precious Body and Blood. 

If you do not “receive” at the Mass, at 
least you may do what you would do if you 
were going to receive. You can say with the 
priest: “Lord, I am not worthy.” You can 
beg the Lord to visit your heart. You can ask 
the same graces as if you did receive ; then you 
can thank Him for all His goodness, and all 
that He has done for you, which will occupy 
your time until the close of the Mass. 

Now, is not this a good way to hear Mass ? 
It seems to me that it should come natural to 
everybody. I am confident that many among 
educated people prefer this way to any other. 
They shut up their books, and let their souls 
have free liberty to raise themselves as they 
find most natural and most fitted to promote the 
love of God ; the end and object of all devotion. 
Pious thoughts, good desires, and prayers of 
every sort, and in any order, will suffice to 
make the hearing of Mass profitable. 

Returning home from church after an hour 
thus devoutly spent, I am sure you will not for¬ 
get the sacred character of the day, nor go into 



;6 


Of Reading Good Books. 


places dangerous to your soul, nor keep any 
evil company. The same modesty and recol¬ 
lection you brought from church will attend 
you everywhere, and when night comes around 
you will be ready to exclaim before you retire 
to rest: ‘ ‘ What a happy and useful day I have 
spent! ” “ One day in thy courts is better 

than a thousand. It is better to be a door¬ 
keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell 
in the tents of the ungodly ” (Ps. lxxxiii. io). 
With a light, cheerful heart you will commend 
your soul to God, now prepared with good 
courage to fight the good fight of faith against 
all the enemies of your salvation for the com¬ 
ing week. 


CHAPTER XX. 

OF READING GOOD BOOKS. 

TT will frequently happen that you will have 
A leisure time at your disposal. When the 
work of the day is over in the afternoon, in the 
long evenings of winter, and especially on Sun¬ 
days,the time will be your own, and you can do 
what you like with it. And it will be a happy 
thing for you if you pass it so as to increase the 
spirit of devotion. 

But you feel tired, perhaps, and unable to 
pray. We cannot always be on our knees, we 




Of Reading Good Books. 


77 


cannot always think, and it is not the ford’s 
will that we should overdo anything, not even 
prayer. 

Now, there is a beautiful and easy way of 
spending one’s time piously, and of keeping up 
at the same time the spirit of prayer. That 
way consists in the reading of good books. We 
need to be entertained and to have amusement 
sometimes, that our minds may not get too 
worried and unable to think clearly and rightly. 

The conversation of a good friend is very 
pleasant; it gives us this amusement without 
doing us any harm, and oftentimes it does us a 
great deal of good. Now, a good book is a good 
friend. The pages, it is true, do not look at us 
and smile in our faces; they do not talk to us 
with all those sweet tones of a friend’s voice; 
they do not talk aloud, but still they do talk to 
us. They give us many new ideas, they in¬ 
struct us in many things we did not know be¬ 
fore—indeed, they can make us laugh and 
make us weep. Who can read the happy death 
of a saint without feeling the tears start from 
his eyes ? 

Books are, next to sermons, next to the living 
voice of the preacher, the most powerful means 
to excite us to virtue. Get, then, at least a few 
books, and read them when you get a chance. 

“ Oh ! ” says a good girl, “ I wish I could ! 
I have never been taught to read, and am now 



78 


Of Reading Good Books . 


too old to learn ; besides, I have no opportunity 
for learning ; there is no one to teach me, and I 
haven’t the time.” 

Now, do not be cast down on that account. 
There is one beautiful book, at least, we can 
read; and that is the Crucifix. What fountains 
of knowledge and true wisdom it contains ! You 
can look at it, and think over what it meatls, 
from one year’s end to another, yet you will 
never reach the bottom of it. 

St. Bonaventure, who wrote so many beauti¬ 
ful things, was asked where he got them all ? 
What books he had learned them out of ? 
“There is my book,” said he, pointing to the 
Crucifix ; ‘ ‘ all my knowledge, all my thoughts 
come from that.” 

Another lovely book you have that you can 
read, though you never learned a letter of the 
alphabet, and that is the Rosary. Millions who 
could not read a word have read that book 
every day. Get some one to teach you the 
meaning of the mysteries, and you will never 
fail to have the best of books always at hand. 
There is no need, then, to be cast down because 
you cannot read; only keep your heart simply 
directed to God, and he will make up abun¬ 
dantly for all that is lacking. Many of the 
saints have not been able to read, but they could 
pray, and think of Christ’s sufferings and love 
for them, wonderfully well. 



Of Reading the Bible . 


79 


‘ * But why say a word about those who can¬ 
not read, since they cannot read what you 
say ? ’ * That is true ; but somebody else may 
read it to them, or tell them, and then my ob¬ 
ject will be accomplished, which is to give every 
one such instruction and consolation as is neces¬ 
sary for them. 

If you can read, then it is the Eord’s will 
that you should make use of this gift; for He 
requires us to make good use of all our talents 
and opportunities. “To whom much is given, 
of him much will be required” (St. L,uke 
"xii. 48). 


CHAPTER XXI. 

OF READING THE BIBEE. 

OU need not, however, have a great many 



A books ; a few good ones are all-sufficient to 
furnish food for your souls. Such books can be 
read over and over without getting tired of 
them. They will always renew some good im¬ 
pression, and excite in you a strong desire to 
regulate your life so as to please God better. 
There is one book far above all others that have 
ever been written or ever will be—that is, the 
Holy Bible. This book is different from all 
other books, because we can put the most entire 




8o 


Of Reading the Bible. 


confidence in all that is written in it. Why? 
It is God Himself, the Holy Ghost, that has 
caused it to be written for our benefit. This is 
what the Scripture itself says: “All Scripture, 
divinely inspired, is profitable to teach, to re¬ 
prove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the 
man of God may be perfect, furnished unto 
every good work” (2 Tim. iii. 16). 

Especially is this the case with the New Tes¬ 
tament, which is better fitted to our times and 
circumstances, which is for the most part plain¬ 
er and easier to be understood, and which tells 
us all that has been done for us by our Saviour 
and His apostles. 

In the Old Testament, I would advise you to 
select such parts as you can read with under¬ 
standing and profit, and not those which are 
above your comprehension, or not applicable to 
your situation. There are many prophecies, 
and accounts of ceremonies, and some narra¬ 
tives, which, though edifying, no doubt, to 
those who understand them, are only curious and 
without profit to those who do not. Such things 
are better let alone. Perhaps some person 
who is acquainted with the different books will 
advise you what to read, and what not. 

I11 the New Testament it is different. Every 
part of it is full of holy instruction, and I am 
not at all afraid that any harm will come to a 
well-intentioned, pure-minded person, from read- 



Of Reading the Bible. 


81 


ing it; on the contrary, such persons will not 
fail to derive much good from it. 

But does not St. Peter say, speaking of the 
epistles of St. Paul and the other Scriptures, 
that in them “are many things hard to be un¬ 
derstood which the unlearned and the unstable 
wrest to their own perdition ? ” (2 Peter iii. 16). 
Undoubtedly he does, and nothing can be more 
true. There are even things which seem per¬ 
fectly plain and easy to understand, that would 
certainly mislead any but a scholar unless they 
were explained. Such things were understood 
well enough at the time they were written, be¬ 
cause all the people were accustomed to use 
words in the sense in which the writers meant 
to use them. But now that language and man¬ 
ners have changed, these words have lost the 
meaning they had at that time, and convey a 
very different one to us. They must be ex¬ 
plained or we shall be misled. 

Other things are very deep and difficult in 
themselves, even to scholars, and it is a real 
folly to set up one’s opinion about them without 
an explanation. 

It is the Church’s office to guard and pre¬ 
serve the true sense of the Scripture, as you re¬ 
member the Scripture itself calls her ‘ ‘ the pil¬ 
lar and ground of the truth.” The Church, 
where the meaning of a passage is obscure, or 
has become changed in the translation from one 



82 


Of Reading the Bible . 


language to another, has placed notes and ex¬ 
planations to preserve the original meaning. 
There can be no objection to reading a Catholic 
Bible, and I find it strongly recommended to 
the faithful as the best of all books to read. 
Pope Pius VI. declares that “the faithful 
should be excited to read the Holy Scriptures, 
which are the most abundant fountains to be 
left open to every one to draw from them purity 
of morals and doctrine,” and he declares that 
‘ ‘ this is most suitably effected by publishing 
the sacred writings in the language of the coun¬ 
try, suited to every one’s capacity, with suita¬ 
ble explanations.’’ (See beginning of Catholic 
Bible.) 

It is true the proud and the evil-minded can 
injure themselves by the reading, but what of 
that ? Cannot everything good be turned into 
evil by such persons ? I have seen self-con¬ 
ceited and ignorant people do this, and to the 
great peril of their salvation. Were the matter 
not so serious, one could not help laughing at 
the absurd sense sometimes put on the Scrip¬ 
ture by such people. Could they have either a 
little more learning or a little more sense, they 
would see what others see so plainly, how ut¬ 
terly ridiculous they have made themselves. 
Read, then, the Catholic Bible in the proper 
spirit, not for disputation or display of learn¬ 
ing, but for the good of your soul. 



CHAPTER XXII. 


CONTINUATION. 

B UT do not read or keep in your possession 
a Protestant Bible or Testament. “ Who¬ 
ever,” says our Lord, “is not with me, is 
against me ” (St. Matt. xii. 30). This Bible is 
not authorized by the holy Church, the guar¬ 
dian of the Scripture. That should be enough 
to condemn it in the eyes of Catholics ; for what 
confidence can we have in a book that has 
passed out of the keeping of God’s Church into 
that of men who have no authority, and who do 
with it what their own judgment and their own 
light dictate ? 

The Protestant translation is different from 
the Catholic in many places, and is generally 
thrown out on the world without any explana¬ 
tion ; as they say, “ without note or comment.” 
It becomes then a book that ‘ ‘ the unlearned 
and the unstable are likely to wrest to their 
own perdition,” as St. Peter says. If it has any 
explanations, they are made by Protestants, too 
often in order to bolster up their own false re¬ 
ligion, by covering up and destroying the real 
truth. A true child of God will not, then, 
either keep it or read it. 

83 


8 4 


Of Reading the Bible. 


Girls who are living out may find some mis¬ 
tresses who are all on fire to draw you away 
from your holy faith. They have an idea that 
the best way to do it is to get you first to read 
the Protestant Bible, and by and by they will 
volunteer to explain it in their own way. They 
come with smiling faces and coaxing words and 
say, “I have taken a great fancy to you, and 
think a great deal of you. I want to make you 
a little present. Here is a beautiful copy of 
the Bible.” Then they show it, all bound 
with red morocco, with gilt edges, and perhaps 
adorned with pictures. ‘‘Isn’t it beautiful? 
Take it, my dear, and read it. It cannot hurt 
you. It is the Word of God, and full of 
good things.” The poor girl is so over¬ 
whelmed at this that she does not know 
what to reply. She takes it and thanks the 
giver. 

Another girl, with a little more courage, will 
make out to say, ‘ ‘ I am much obliged to you, 
ma’am, but I would rather not take it.” “ And 
why not ? Are you afraid to read the Scrip¬ 
ture, the Word of God? I have heard that 
Catholics were afraid to read the Bible, but I 
did not believe it. Yes, I see ! the priests are 
afraid to let you read the Bible lest you find 
out the errors of your religion.” This poor 
girl feels abashed ; she is not used to be at¬ 
tacked in that way, and she perhaps says, “ No, 




Of Reading the Bible. 


85 


ma’am, it is not as you suppose. I will take 
the book, much obliged to you.” 

Now, this is just what the lady wanted, to 
make you do something contrary to your faith, 
to undermine its firmness, to get some kind of ac¬ 
knowledgment out of you that, after all, the Pro¬ 
testant religion has the truth as well as the Catho¬ 
lic. She hopes, when you begin to waver, you 
will keep on until you lose the faith altogether. 

Cet me put in your mind a reply to all such 
attacks. Say, “ I thank you for your good 
intention, but I cannot accept your book.” 
‘ ‘ Why not ? Are you forbid to read the 
Bible ?” “ Oh no ! I am very glad to read it; 

but I cannot read any but the true Bible— 
the Catholic Bible. If you will present me 
with a copy of that, I will read it, and feel 
obliged to you for your kindness.” 

And what is true of the Protestant Bible is 
true also of other Protestant books, treating of 
piety or religious doctrine. They may seem to 
read well and to contain good principles. I 
have no doubt they do contain some ; it would 
be strange enough if they did not. But there 
are also evil ones concealed among the good, 
and the piety is of a false and injurious charac¬ 
ter. “Beware,” says the Saviour, “ of false 
prophets who come in sheep’s clothing, but 
inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (St. 
Matthew vii. 15). 



86 


How to Read the Bible. 


The mild and gentle Saviour said this be¬ 
cause He knew how destructive false doctrine 
is to the soul, and He would tell the truth, 
whether every one liked it or not. I have no 
intention to offend any one, but I must tell the 
truth, and therefore I tell you to have nothing 
to do with any religious books not of God’s 
church, neither read them, keep them, nor give 
them away to anybody else. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

HOW TO READ THE BIBEE. 

H AVING seen what is to be avoided in the 
reading of the Scripture, let us speak a 
little more of the advantage of it. It is a mine 
of gold to the soul. You have heard, perhaps, 
how the miners in California work for gold— 
how they dig day after day, in water and deep 
under the ground, where they are liable to be 
crushed to death by the falling of the soil. If 
they chance to find a large lump of gold, they 
esteem all their hardships as nothing; they are 
ready to leap and dance for the joy of their hearts. 

But a single verse of Holy Scripture is often¬ 
times of more value to the immortal soul than 
all the gold of the world for the body. St. An¬ 
thony, the hermit, when a young man, entered 
a church one day when the Holy Scripture 
was being read, He heard the words, “Go, 






Hozv to Read the Bible. 


87 


sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and 
come follow me” (St. Luke xviii. 22). They 
sunk right down into his soul. He obeyed them, 
sold his possessions, gave the money to the 
poor, and went into the desert, that he might 
follow the Lord Jesus Christ more perfectly. 
There he became one of the greatest of saints. 

How many places there are that fill us with 
hope, with consolation, with strong desire to 
serve God. Why, we can think over a single 
sentence for months and months, and even our 
whole lives, and constantly find matter for 
thought and prayer. Take that beautiful ser¬ 
mon of our Lord on the mount; who can ever 
understand the whole perfection of it? g>r who 
could fail to find something in it to feed his soul, 
if he were to read it over every week of his life? 

I was much pleased with an expression I 
found in the lives of some nuns who lived in the 
time of St. Basil, fourteen hundred years ago. 
It is said ‘ ‘ they nourished their souls with the 
daily food of the divine Scriptures.” That is, 
they meditated them over, and set themselves to 
work at once to carry out their teachings as well 
as they could. And the good people of those 
times who could not read listened with all their 
ears to hear the Holy Scriptures, counting them¬ 
selves as rich if they could remember one verse 
to carry away with them, as if a precious pearl 
had been given them. 



88 


Hozv to Read the Bible . 


If we were as docile and as watchful, what a 
treasure we should find in the Scriptures ! Read 
them with attention, with the wish always to 
get good out of them. Do not run over too 
much at one time ; but, when .something strikes 
yon, pause over it, think over it, and lift your 
heart to God, to beg Him to fix it in your soul, 
to thank Him for the good thoughts and feelings 
which come to you, or to make other prayers, 
as you may feel inclined. And afterward try to 
keep it in your mind, so that you may be able 
to call it back when you like. It will help you 
to pray with fervor. 

I like this mixing of reading and prayer; 
and wfyen your reading excites prayer, by all 
means stop, raise your eyes or close them, and 
pray as long as you feel inclined to. Then go 
on with your reading. Maybe in a very short 
time some other good thought will strike you, 
and you will want to pray again. Do so ; and 
do not be afraid to interrupt the reading as often 
as you have something to say to God. 

This is the way St. Teresa used to do, and 
she became, as is well known, the very saint to 
teach others how to pray. She helped herself 
with a book, just in the way I have described, 
until finally she needed no book, for she could 
hardly help praying all the time, it became so 
natural to her. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 


OF OTHER GOOD BOOKS. 

T F you had no other book than the New Testa- 
1 ment, it would be an abundance of good 
reading. Still, it is well to have a little va¬ 
riety. Any good book of instructions, such 
as the Mission Book , is of great advantage, 
because there you will find what you most want 
to know laid out in order, and in such a way 
that you can understand it. The Scripture ex¬ 
cites you to do right in general; but such a 
book teaches you how to carry out the teach¬ 
ing of the Scripture, and to regulate your life 
in practice; how to behave under the actual 
circumstances of life, so that you need not fear 
being led astray through want of knowing what 
to do. 

St. Philip Neri was once asked what books 
he thought the best. He replied, those whose 
writers’ names begin with an S. That is, 
those written by the saints , by men or women 
filled with the spirit of God. There are many 
beautiful books written by such persons; for 
instance, the works of St. Francis of Sales 
and of St. Alphonsus Eiguori. Choose among 

89 


9 o 


Of Other Good Books . 


these a few that suit your taste, but do not be 
anxious to get too many. 

There is one book which I think very good 
for daily reading during the year, and that 
is, Butler’s Lives of the Saints . We feel so 
much encouraged to press on in the way of 
virtue, and to follow the Saviour, when we read 
how others have done so before us. In this 
excellent work are the lives of the principal 
saints, with many good instructions and obser¬ 
vations which explain what otherwise might be 
misunderstood. 

It was by reading the lives of the saints that 
St. Ignatius was excited to a holy life. He 
had been wounded in battle, and was laid up a 
long time before he recovered. The time hung 
heavy on his hands, and to occupy his mind he 
read all the novels he could get. When there 
were no more, they brought him some lives of 
the saints. Soon after he began to read, their 
earnestness and courage in striving for the 
Kingdom of Heaven touched his heart. 

‘ ‘ Why cannot I do likewise ? ’ ’ said he; and 
immediately he began to give himself up heart 
and soul, with all his energy, to serve God. 

These moving and affecting lives may touch 
your hearts too, and urge you on to do your 
whole duty with courage and perseverance. 
Only be careful not to attempt rashly to imitate 
them in those things that are extraordinary and 



Of Other Good Books. 


9i 


singular, such as great fasting or bodily austeri¬ 
ties. The humility, the meekness and patience 
of the saints, their love to one another—these 
things you can safely follow, the more closely 
the better. But their extraordinary works of 
penance were performed through a particular 
inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and it would be 
both unwise and injurious for ordinary persons 
to undertake them. Leave all that is wonder¬ 
ful and unusual. These things we can admire, 
but must not be too quick to imitate. 

But above all, put out of your heads the wish 
to see visions, or to have miracles performed by 
God for you, or to dream dreams, or any things 
of the sort. When God sends them it is all 
well. It is not probable, however, that He will 
send them, and it is not pleasing to Him if we 
ask for them or desire them. It would be much 
better to say, ‘ ‘ O my God! I am content to 
walk by the simple light of faith. If it be Thy 
will, please preserve me from all dreams, vis¬ 
ions, or any extraordinary ways, and let me 
sanctify myself by doing my duty and Thy 
blessed will in all things.” 

The devil has no chance to deceive the soul 
that walks in this road, and her humility will 
draw down God’s richest graces. 

Read, then, and pray, and what the Scripture 
says of the just man will be true of you : “ His 

will is the law of the Lord, and in His law he 



9 2 


Nature of the Sacraments. 


shall meditate day and night. And he shall be 
like a tree planted near the running water, 
which produces its fruit in due season, for its 
leaf shall not fall. And behold, whatever he 
doeth shall prosper” (Psalm i.) Be faithful 
to these holy exercises, and you will be watered 
abundantly by the divine grace, grow steadily 
and rapidly in goodness, and produce in due 
time the fruits of holiness. Everything will 
turn out well for your soul, until you shall reap 
your blessed reward in heaven. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

ON THE NATURE OF THE SACRAMENTS. 

O F all the means of leading a devout life, the 
most important remain yet to be spoken of. 
These are the holy Sacraments of Penance and 
the Eucharist, or, as they are commonly called, 
of Confession and Communion. 

There are, as you know, other sacraments 
besides these, but I only wish to speak here of 
these two because they are to be received fre¬ 
quently, and are adapted to the every-day wants 
of the soul. 

These may be called the very means of our 
Eord Jesus Christ Himself, since He established 
them to remain until the end of the world, in 




Nature of the Sacraments. 


93 


order to impart to us the graces necessary to 
bring us to everlasting life. 

You know our Lord is represented in the 
Gospel as the Good Shepherd, who watches over 
His flock to keep all harm away from it, and to 
provide it with the best and most agreeable 
nourishment. I have seen most affecting pic¬ 
tures, in which He is represented carrying the 
poor stray sheep on His shoulders safe home to 
the fold. Now, it is especially through the holy 
sacraments that our Lord fulfils this office of 
Shepherd of our souls. 

Through them He guards us from the ene¬ 
mies who are on the look-out to surprise and 
destroy us. Through them He gives us food 
for the soul that makes us strong and health¬ 
ful, and full of courage, and through them He 
gives the sweetest consolation in all our distress 
and down-heartedness. 

These sacraments are not merely something 
within us, that passes between our soul and God, 
but they are outward signs, something that we 
see or hear or do—as, for example, when we 
wish to receive the Sacrament of Penance, we 
not only prepare ourselves in our hearts, but we 
go to the priest of God, we declare to him our 
sins, and he raises his hand and pronounces the 
Absolution over us. 

To these outward and visible signs our 
Blessed Saviour has joined wonderful though 



94 


Nature of the Sacraments. 


hidden graces, which produce silently and quietly 
the greatest effects on our souls. What a conso¬ 
lation this is ! To know by the sure words of 
the Saviour, that when with true, sincere hearts 
we receive these sacraments, we receive those 
precious graces which are attached to them. 
Our very eyes and ears in this way become wit¬ 
nesses to our happiness. For they tell us that 
the actions have been performed, or the words 
spoken, to which our faith assures us that the 
Ford has given a divine grace and power. 

Perhaps you can understand this better by a 
comparison. Suppose a generous-hearted rich 
man to have made the acquaintance of a poor 
family. He likes them, and seeing that they are 
well-meaning, honest people, determines to give 
them a house to live in, and a little garden 
around it. So he brings out pen and ink and 
paper, and writes out a deed, then signs and 
seals it, and the property becomes theirs. What 
joy and gratitude fill their hearts when they see 
this deed with the good man’s name and seal 
upon it, assuring them that the property is really 
theirs! 

So the things that are done or said in Confes¬ 
sion and Communion, like the signing of the 
deed, assure us that a great property, a glori¬ 
ous possession for the soul, has become ours. 
The Ford has promised it, and these outward 
ceremonies are the signing and sealing which 




Confession a Remedy for Sin. 


95 


convey the title to us. Blessings and praises, 
then, be to our Eord for these glorious sacra¬ 
ments which He has left behind Him in His 
holy Church! 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

CONFESSION A REMEDY FOR SIN. 

HE Sacrament of Confession was instituted 



by our Lord for the forgiveness of sin. 
Nothing can be more important for us than this 
sacrament, if we have fallen into sin. It is sin 
that bars the gates of heaven. With mortal or 
grievous sin on the conscience, we are, as Scrip¬ 
ture says, already condemned ; and the sentence 
is only removed when the sin is forgiven. Sin 
is the thing to be feared above all else. Great 
or grievous sins kill the soul outright. If they 
are not destroyed by penance and forgiven, we 
must suffer the pains of hell for them. Every 
kind of sin, whether small or great, is exceedingly 
to be feared. A venial sin, particularly such as is 
deliberately committed—that is, committed with 
the knowledge and consciousness that it is a sin 
—helps to destroy the soul. It may seem to be a 
small matter, but it weakens the love of God in 
the soul, and if persevered in paves the way for 
greater ones, until, little by little, one falls entirely. 

I wish I could impress this upon your minds 
so that you might never forget it. Our Blessed 




9 6 


Confession a Remedy for Sin. 


Saviour was always urging this point; always 
declaring that the sin must be abandoned if we 
expect to please God or be saved. “ Fear not 
those that kill the body,” He says, “ and cannot 
kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can de¬ 
stroy both soul and body in hell.” What is 
that for which God will destroy the soul ? It is 
sin. And sin alone can. 

The Pharisees are described as making long 
prayers, and going through all the observances 
of the haw with the utmost exactness, expecting 
in this way to satisfy God, though they kept on 
committing sin. Just see how our Ford de¬ 
nounces them. 

“Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypo¬ 
crites, because you are like to whited sepulchres, 
which outwardly appear to men beautiful: but 
within are full of dead men’s bones and all filthi¬ 
ness. So you also outwardly, indeed, appear to 
men just: but within you are full of hypocrisy 
and iniquity.” 

‘‘Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, be¬ 
cause you devour the houses of widows, making 
long prayers; therefore you shall receive the 
greater judgment.” “ You serpents, generation 
of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of 
hell?” (St. Matt, xxiii. 14, 27, 28, 33). 

I am afraid this description will apply to 
some Catholics. I am afraid there are some 
girls who have an idea that if they have some 



Confession a Remedy for Sin. 


97 


outward devotion, if they go to church and pray 
there, and go to the sacraments now and then, 
they need not be so particular to avoid sin. 

Sometimes you hear an employer say: 
“ There is my girl; she is on her knees praying 
a great deal, but in five minutes after flies into 
such a rage that you would think her possessed 
of the devil. She goes to her confession, but 
the next day you will hear words out of her 
mouth that would disgrace a heathen.” 

Another says: “Mary attends church and 
says her prayers, but she pilfers and takes 
things that do not belong to her: she wastes.a 
great deal of time, and does her work in the 
most careless and slovenly manner. She does 
not seem to understand that the first principle 
of religion requires her to be honest and fulfil 
her duty to her employers. ’ ’ 

Now, what kind of religion is that? Such 
girls grossly deceive themselves, but they do 
not and cannot deceive the Almighty. “If ye 
love me, keep my commandments”; that is, do 
not sin. Do not think that anything else can be 
put in the place of really and truly keeping the 
commandments of God. Remember the words 
of the Holy Ghost: “ Flee from sin as from the 
face of a serpent” (Ecclus. xxi. 2). Flee from 
sin : hate sin ; have a horror and dread of sin ; 
and make it the study of your life to avoid every 
sin, and every appearance of sin. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 


CONTINUATION. 

N OW, the Sacrament of Penance, or Confes¬ 
sion, is the grand remedy for sin. It is the 
medicine of the Saviour, established to heal the 
wounds of the soul—the great cure for all its 
sicknesses. When we make a good Confession, 
and the priest pronounces over us the Absolu¬ 
tion, or sentence of forgiveness, our sins are for¬ 
given. Nor is this all: Confession cleanses the 
heart, and inspires us with a hatred of sin. All 
that we do to prepare for it has a tendency to 
make us see the hateful nature of sin, and in the 
sacrament itself the grace of God confirms this 
hatred in us in a remarkable way. 

The power of this sacrament comes from the 
words of Christ Himself. He gave to His 
priests, in the most solemn way, the commission 
to forgive sins, saying : “As my father hath sent 
me, so I send you. Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 
Whose soever sins you remit, they shall be re¬ 
mitted unto them; and whose soever sins you 
retain, they shall be retained” (St. John xx. 

23)- 

Some one may say to you : ‘ ‘ God alone can 
forgive sins. Why do you go to a priest, or to 

98 


Confession a Remedy for Sin. 


99 


any man, and not directly to God? ” I answer: 
“ True, God alone has the power to forgive sins ; 
but it is by God’s power that the priest forgives 
sins, and not by any power of his own. Why 
do I not go to God directly for forgiveness rather 
than to the priest ? Because He has committed 
His power to the priest, and told me to go to 
him.” For the same reason that I pay my fare 
to the conductor and not to the president of a 
railroad : he is the one delegated to receive it. 

It is not for me to set up my own notion in 
place of God’s ordinance. When God said to 
the priest: ‘ ‘ Whose sins ye forgive they are for¬ 
given,” that is enough for me. When I know 
the road He has told me to travel, it is not for 
me to turn off from it, ho matter how flattering 
or pleasant any other way may appear. It will 
be very bitter at the day of judgment, after hav¬ 
ing gone astray from following our own notions, 
to hear our Lord’s reproach : “ Why were you 
not satisfied with My way—the way that in My 
infinite wisdom I saw best for you ? and why did 
you, in your short-sighted wisdom, set up an¬ 
other in place of it ? ” 

The priest is a man, it is true ; but he is the 
agent of the Lord Jesus Christ. All his acts, 
within the limits of the commission or agency 
committed to him, will be held good by his 
Lord. If he steps out of that he is no longer an 
agent, and his Lord will not hold such acts good. 




100 


Must Use the Remedy. 


It is like any other agency, and the same prin¬ 
ciples govern it. 

Therefore, when the priest exercises his min¬ 
istry of mercy and reconciliation, he applies the 
blood and merits of the Saviour to the penitent 
for the washing away of sins. When he ab¬ 
solves, it is the Holy Ghost that absolves through 
his means, washes us clean with Christ’s most 
precious blood, and confirms us in God’s holy 
love. Hence, after Confession, sin seems to 
have lost its hold on our affections, and the devil 
is afraid to bring forward his temptations for 
some time, lest he be driven back in disgrace. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

WE must not put off the use of this remedy. 

pONFESSION being thus the remedy for sin, 
we ought thankfully and diligently to make 
use of it; but the devil raises up great difficul¬ 
ties in the way, sometimes deterring sinners 
from approaching this sacrament of which they 
stand in the greatest need ; sometimes torment¬ 
ing the good who do approach it with so many 
scruples as to deprive them of a great part of its 
benefit. 

There are persons who are conscious to them¬ 
selves that they are living in the state of mortal 





Must Use the Remedy. 


IOI 


sin, and who desire to get out of it, and to re¬ 
cover the grace of God, but who are frightened 
at the idea that it is so very difficult a thing to 
do. “How shall I examine my conscience,” 
they say, ‘ ‘ when I have committed so many 
sins ? I can never recollect them in the world. 
I cannot go through with them.” 

Now, all these difficulties are purely in the 
imagination. Set yourself at the work with a 
simple, childlike intention to go through it well, 
and all the difficulties will disappear. If you 
resolve to make a sincere, honest confession, 
with heartfelt sorrow and a firm determination to 
quit your sins and live a good life afterwards, all 
the trouble about Confession will vanish like 
smoke before the wind. 

As to the impossibility of calling your numer¬ 
ous sins to mind, I say a few days of preparation 
will be sufficient for a confession of a life-time, 
even though it has been filled with sins. Fer¬ 
vent prayers to God from the heart, with now 
and then a look at your past life, will bring up, 
little by little, all that is important to be con¬ 
fessed. 

If you are unable to apply your mind, a good 
will, and a desire to please God, will draw down 
grace from Him to do all that he requires of 
you. 

Besides, your confessor will give you the 
benefit of his experience, and make the difficulty 



102 


Must Use the Remedy . 


very slight. Be humble and sorrowful for sin, 
and determined to quit it, and your confessor 
will feel obliged to help you, or rather to co¬ 
operate with God in that great work that He is 
carrying on in your soul. You will be surprised 
when you have finished your confession to see 
how very easy it has been, and you will be in¬ 
clined to say : ‘ ‘ How is it possible that my lov¬ 
ing Saviour can accomplish such wonderful 
things for me, when I have done so little my¬ 
self! ” 

Do not follow the example of some girls, who 
go year after year with a guilty conscience, and 
when asked, ‘ ‘ Why have you not been to your 
confession before ? ’ ’ reply : “ I had stayed away 
so long I was afraid to come ”; or, “I felt there 
was such a load upon me, that I had not the 
courage to throw it off ”; or, “I was afraid the 
priest would scold me for being so neglectful.” 
Nonsense ! nonsense ! the whole of this is non¬ 
sense. It is the devil trying to fill your mind 
full of fancies in order to hinder you from doing 
a good thing, a pleasant thing, a delightful and 
easy thing. 

You have suffered, perhaps, untold agony of 
mind, and carried a big burden which you could 
have thrown off whenever you pleased. The 
same amount of trouble you have taken a hun¬ 
dred times in your worldly affairs, had it been 
given to God, would have been sufficient to have 



Example of St. Mary of Egypt. 103 


relieved you entirely. Jesus Christ would at 
once have taken all that guilt away from you, 
had you only applied to Him in the way that He 
has prescribed. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

EXAMPLE- OF ST. MARY OF EGYPT. 

Tj'OR the consolation of all who may be 
troubled with such fears, arid to confirm 
what I have said, let me give you the example 
of St. Mary of Egypt. This great saint, who at¬ 
tained to such a wonderful purity of heart and 
astonishing sanctity in her old age, was in her 
youth quite as remarkable for the wickedness 
and vileness of her life. From the age of twelve, 
for sixteen years, she was a scandal and offence 
to the Christian name by her abominable life. 
In the midst of her career of wickedness she 
saw one day a number of pilgrims taking ship 
for Jerusalem, to visit the holy places which 
our Eord had sanctified by His life and precious 
death. 

She determined to join herself to the company, 
not from any pious motive but in order to carry 
on her wickedness with more facility. When 
the ship arrived, the pilgrims went up to the 
church to venerate the Holy Cross on which the 




104 Example of St. Mary of Egypt. 


Saviour died, and Mary, all hardened and wick¬ 
ed as she was, went up with the rest. 

With bold face she was pushing in at the 
door, but an invisible power stopped her short 
at the threshold. Do what she could, she could 
not enter. She went away and came back to try 
again, but it was of no use. She was filled with 
fear, and the grace of God entered her heart. 
She recognized her own vileness and sinfulness, 
and tears began to flow down her cheeks. 

She turned to the Blessed Virgin, whose 
statue was placed at the entrance of the church, 
and said : “ O Holy Virgin, mother of the Word 
made flesh, so pure and humble and chaste, in¬ 
tercede for me. Procure for me, a vile creature, 
the grace to go in and venerate the Holy Cross 
on which thy Son shed His blood, and I promise 
no more to return to my bad life, but to do pen¬ 
ance in any way that may be most pleasing to 
God.” 

Her prayer was heard, and she found after¬ 
wards no difficulty in entering and venerating 
the Holy Cross. Then, her heart filled with con¬ 
trition, she commenced the penance which God 
the Holy Ghost inspired her to do, in order to 
make amends for her sins and establish herself 
in His fear and love. 

That very day she started for the desert coun¬ 
try beyond the river Jordan. She arrived at 
nightfall at the bank of the river, where there 



Example of St. Mary of Egypt. 105 


was a church of St. John the Baptist. Now 
notice what follows: she received Holy Com¬ 
munion that day. Her sighs and tears and 
prayers, as she travelled along the road, had pre¬ 
pared her. The enormity of her life was before 
her in all its dark colors. With simplicity of 
heart, and the single thought of declaring her 
sin the best she could, so as to forsake it for 
ever, she made her confession. 

It was enough : she told her sins as well as 
she could; she answered her confessor with sim¬ 
plicity, and her confession was finished. There 
was no need to tell her to come again. It was 
made just as well that once as if she had come 
back twenty times, and better. 

“ But maybe she was a very learned woman, 
who had been so well instructed that she knew 
how to make her confession perfectly.” Such 
was not the case. It was quite the contrary. 
She could not read a word, and seems to have 
been a very ignorant person, as we may well 
suppose her to have been, considering how care¬ 
less and sinful she had been from a small girl 
up to the time of her conversion. 

No : her example shows how ready God is to 
give sinners abundant grace to make a good 
confession, and to remove every difficulty when 
^ He sees a good will. “But did not St. Mary 
get so scrupulous that she had to repeat over her 
confession afterwards a number of times ? ” Not 



io6 Example of St. Mary of Egypt. 


at all. She lived in the desert fifty-seven years 
in penance and prayer. Her confidence in 
God’s goodness and mercy, and her conscious¬ 
ness of her own sincerity, were sufficient to put 
away all vain and silly scruples, so that her 
peace and tranquillity of soul became almost 
angelic. 

Any girl who conies to confession with sim¬ 
plicity and earnestness as St. Mary did, no mat¬ 
ter how much she may have sinned, will find it 
easy, as Mary did, and will receive from God 
graces similar to those that Mary received. 

Let us thank God for this consoling Sacra¬ 
ment of Penance, and, when we return from it 
cleansed and strengthened, say, with the Bless¬ 
ed Virgin : “My soul doth magnify the Lord, 
and my spirit exult in God my Saviour, who 
hath had regard to the humility of His hand¬ 
maid. For He who is powerful hath done great 
things for me : blessed be His holy name ” (St. 
Luke i. 46). 



CHAPTER XXX. 


SCRUPLES OF THE GOOD CONCERNING CON¬ 
FESSION. 

IF the enemy of our souls strives to keep sin- 
ners away from Confession by magnifying its 
difficulties, he endeavors also to discourage and 
harass the penitent who frequents the Sacra¬ 
ment by groundless fears and scruples. 

These scruples and torments are either in 
reference to the declaration of their sins, or their 
dispositions in regard to them. Such persons 
feel so deeply the importance of salvation that 
they desire to have a certainty about it which is 
not good for them, nor according to the holy will 
of God, that they should have. 

Though such fears are natural, they must be 
put aside, and not dwelt upon nor made much’ 
of, when they stand in the way of our peace of 
mind, or the real, genuine love of God. I will 
say something about them that you may under¬ 
stand their nature, and the folly of them. 

There are some who are always tormented lest 
they should have omitted something in their 
confessions. They seem to fancy that if by any 
chance a considerable sin should entirely escape 
their memories and never come up again, it 

107 


io8 


Scruples. 


would remain unforgiven, and appear against 
them at the judgment. Just as if God, the Infi¬ 
nite Goodness, could ever condemn any one for 
what was not his own fault! Such an idea is 
entirely absurd. 

No doubt, a good girl when she first begins to 
enter seriously into God’s sendee will do her 
best to have a clear conscience, and will not will¬ 
ingly allow any considerable sins to remain un¬ 
confessed. But one confession made with such 
intention is enough to put her in a state of grace, 
as everything that can hinder God’s grace is re¬ 
moved by a sincere and contrite confession. 

After such a confession it is God’s will that 
we should be free from all over-anxiety about 
our salvation, and it is contrary to His will that 
we should worry and fret, and be troubled in 
mind. If we have forgotten anything of impor¬ 
tance, it does not make us lose God’s grace. 
We should remain in the utmost tranquillity until 
the next confession, when the forgotten sin can 
be declared; for although it is forgiven, it is 
necessary to confess it, if it has not been con¬ 
fessed already. 

Again: many give themselves much more 
anxiety about the examination of their conscien¬ 
ces than is necessary. Of course, all grievous 
sins must be confessed, but a good girl will hate 
and abhor such sins so much that I suppose she 
will rarely, if ever, fall into them. I suppose, 



Scruples. 


109 


if she has unfortunately sinned in such a way, 
that she will immediately enter into herself and 
grieve over it, and be only too anxious to con¬ 
fess it. As soon as she begins to prepare for 
confession, it will be uppermost in her mind, 
and there will be no danger of her forgetting it. 

As to smaller sins, our examination of con¬ 
science need not be scrupulous and anxious; on 
the contrary, it ought to be entirely tranquil and 
peaceful. Think over your sins and faults, and 
be as sorry for them as you please; that is all 
very well; but do not imagine that the chief 
good of confession is in being sure not to leave 
out anything. 

This is not the case. If you are sorry for 
everything that displeases God, and declare all 
your grievous sins, and such of the others as you 
deem most hurtful and injurious, you do well— 
and better than if your whole mind were set on 
a minute and particular declaration of every 
small matter. 

Sometimes, while the priest is speaking to 
you of something very important to your soul, 
some danger you must avoid, or some practice 
of piety he sees useful to you, he will be inter¬ 
rupted in the very middle of his advice by some¬ 
thing like this: “I neglected my morning 
prayers sometimes ” ; or, “I have been out of 
patience ” ; or, “I have been fretful.” 

This is making confession a matter of form, 



IO 


Scruples. 


and forgetting the spirit of it; like the Phari¬ 
sees of old, who put everything in the most 
minute observance of the smallest ceremonies, 
while they paid little attention to really cleans¬ 
ing and purifying their hearts from attachment 
to sin. 

Your time is better employed in sorrow and 
regret for what is wrong and defective, in holy 
resolutions to amend your lives, and to give 
your hearts to God more perfectly, than in a 
scrupulous and over-anxious examination of 
conscience. 

In the same way, the desire to be constantly 
repeating over confessions that have been already 
well made seems to me calculated to do no 
good, but rather to keep the mind in constant 
trouble and anxiety, when it ought to be put¬ 
ting a loving trust in God. It is making God 
“a hard master,” exacting to the last farthing, 
when in truth He is a kind Father and has long 
ago forgiven us. 

There is a secret pride about it, too, as if it 
were by our own force and strength that we 
were to look for forgiveness, and not in the lov¬ 
ing mercy of God. 




CHAPTER XXXI. 


SCRUPLES CONCERNING CONTRITION. 

M ANY good girls are also often troubled about 
their contrition or sorrow for sin. They 
fear they have never had the right kind of sor¬ 
row, and that their confessions are of no value 
on that account. I venture to say, that those 
who fear this very much are the very ones who 
have no cause to fear. This fear shows a de¬ 
sire to do God’s will and a grief at the very idea 
of not doing it, and what is that but true sorrow 
for sin ? 

Contrition does not consist in feeling, for we 
cannot always feel as we would wish to, but in 
a firm determination to do God’s holy will, and 
to hate and abhor what is contrary thereto. 

Seeing that our sins arc contrary to His will, 
we sincerely regret them ; they are a grief to 
us ; we wish most heartily that they had never 
been committed, and we are determined that 
they never shall be committed again. 

You may seem to yourselves to be cold and 
without feeling ; yet if your contrition is of this 
kind it is a far better proof of God’s being 
pleased with you than the shedding of a torrent 
of tears would be. 


hi 


I 12 


Scruples . 


Tears sometimes flow very lightly and on 
small occasions, and they dry up quite as read¬ 
ily. The virtue and goodness of religion is not 
at all in such tears. On the contrary, the deep¬ 
est and strongest acts of the will are generally 
those which are the calmest and most tranquil. 
The noisy brook is very shallow, while the still 
water runs deep. 

When we read of the martyrs of old giving 
their blood and their life rather than burn 
incense to false gods, because they knew that 
this was a sin, we see what an abhorrence they 
had of sin, and we are sure that they hated 
their own past sins, and grieved over them with 
the most sincere contrition. If you in the same 
way are disposed to deny yourselves all that 
may be necessary in order to avoid sin, even 
though it should go much against your inclina¬ 
tion—that is, if your will is heartily set against 
sin—you need have no anxiety about your con¬ 
trition ; you may be sure it is all right. 

The best way to be sure of always having a 
true contrition for your faults, even the slight¬ 
est, is to exercise yourselves well in constant 
desires after God’s love, as I have already re¬ 
commended you. You know what the Scrip¬ 
ture says : “ No man can serve two masters, for 
either he will love the one and hate the other, 
or hold to the one and despise the other. ’ ’ If 
God is truly the master of your soul, there is no 




Scruples. 


113 

fear but you will hate the devil and all his 
works, and as soon as you see that anything 
whatever is contrary to the love of God you 
will drive it from your heart. 

If you say : “I won’t be impatient as I have 
been before ” ; or, “I will be more careful of 
my tongue, not to speak in a passion ” ; and at 
the same time do not cherish a warm desire to 
please God in all things, I fear all your resolu¬ 
tions will soon be forgotten. But keep your 
heart and soul directed to God, and you will be 
attentive to guard against these and all other 
faults. 

When you have a very great desire to please 
your employer you are not apt to forget any 
part of your duty, and you do it well, but when 
the desire is wanting, you may make a resold 
tion a hundred times to do this or that, and for¬ 
get it. 

A girl who desires to catch the eye of others 
by her dress never forgets to look in the glass, 
nor to arrange her hair or her ornaments. She 
has no need to make a resolution not to forget 
these things, for her desire keeps her memory 
wide awake. 

So keep a burning desire to please God in 
your mind, and your memory will be quick in 
regard to sin or faults, and your will strong. 
“His delight is in the law of the Iyord, and in 
His law he will meditate day and night,” says 



114 We must have the Spirit of Pena 7 ice. 

the Scripture (Ps. i. 2). Put your delight in 
loving God, and the thought of His law will be 
present before you day and night. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

WE MUST HAVE THE SPIRIT OF PENANCE. 

TN regard to the penance or satisfaction that is 
* imposed in the Sacrament of Confession, I 
would observe that it should, of course, be done 
faithfully ; but over and above this, we should 
endeavor to do penance by all the actions of our 
lives, principally by putting up with the crosses, 
troubles, trials, and afflictions which God may 
see fit to send upon us. 

We need, all of us, to do penance ; for our 
sins and faults are more than the hairs of our 
heads, and what is the little penance imposed 
on us in Confession ? A few prayers, a few re¬ 
citals of the Rosary, a slight deprivation or self- 
denial. Truly, it keeps up the principle of pen¬ 
ance in the sacrament and reminds us solemnly 
of our duty ; but after all how inadequate it is, 
and out of proportion to the number and great¬ 
ness of our sins! 

God imposes His own penance as He sees fit 
and good for us. Oh! let us not stand in the way 
of His designs for us by refusing to accept His 






We must have the Spirit of Penance . 115 


penance, by complaining and fretting under it, 
or by seeking to escape it amid the dissipations 
and distractions of the world. 

How short-sighted we are ! God looks upon 
us with eyes of love and proposes a very pre¬ 
cious gift for us, a splendid diamond that shall 
sparkle for all eternity. It comes in the shape 
of a trial, an affliction, or a disappointment. 
All we have to do is to look through it right up 
to God, who has allowed it to happen, and to say: 
‘ ‘ Praise and glory be to God in this as in all 
things.” “If we have received good things 
from God, why shall we not also receive evil?” 
(Job ii. 10). When we have done so we have 
united ourselves to H im more closely than we 
could have done had all happened according to 
our desire. 

Instead, then, of complaining and grumbling 
at what God permits to befall us, let us be thank¬ 
ful and take it as a sign that he has not forgot¬ 
ten us ; but that He is watching over us with 
all the interest of a father, desiring our salva¬ 
tion, and holding out to us the means of attain¬ 
ing it. 

I am convinced that the reason why many 
souls are lost is, that they will not submit to 
these penances. Penance is necessary to purify 
their souls and destroy the evil root of sin in 
them, but they will have none of it; they go so 
much on the principle of self-indulgence and 




116 We must have the Spirit of Penance. 


self-love that God’s love can find no place in 
them, and God’s grace is thrown away on their 
hard and sterile hearts. 

Let us remember always these blessed words 
spoken by the priest when he imparts the Abso¬ 
lution. He says : “May the Passion and Suffer¬ 
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary, and of all the saints, and 
whatsoever good you shall do, or evil you shall 
suffer, be to you for the remission of your sins, 
the increase of grace, and the reward of eternal 
glory.” The sufferings of this life work out for 
us, if taken in the spirit of penance, what St. 
Paul calls “ an eternal weight of glory.” 

Take, then, with patience and joy everything 
disagreeable, everything painful, everything 
against your will, the loss of friends, or of pro¬ 
perty, or of health, or anything whatever as a 
penance for your sins, from the hands of Jesus 
Christ, as a filling up of what is wanting in your 
sacramental penance, and you will be rewarded 
for it. It will give you a foretaste of heaven 
even nowin your soul, and heaven itself here¬ 
after. 

These are the chief things regarding the Sac¬ 
rament of Penance which I have deemed it more 
especially useful to say to you. As to other 
matters, which may be of equal importance, you 
will find them sufficiently explained in your 
prayer-books, or books of instruction, such as 



What Holy Communion is. 


ii 7 


the Mission Book . Many of you, no doubt, 
have learned them in your catechisms when you 
were children. Eet us now consider some of the 
things in regard to Holy Communion which it 
will be most pleasing and profitable for us 
thoroughly to understand and to apply to our 
souls. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

WHAT THE HOTY COMMUNION IS. 

THE Holy Communion is the greatest of all 
^ the sacraments, because it contains under 
the appearances of bread and wine the Author 
of all the sacraments, the Eord Jesus Christ 
Himself. 

Our Eord was not satisfied with giving us the 
other sacraments, though full of wonderful 
graces. He determined to put the crowning 
stone to His work by giving Himself to us. He 
ascended into heaven, but He is still with us in 
the Sacrament of the Altar, and will always re¬ 
main with us until the end of the world. 

I dare say you will be pleased to read a short 
explanation of the way in which our Eord has 
accomplished such great things. 

On the very last night before he suffered 
death for us on the cross, He and all His 
Apostles were assembled in an upper room. 




118 


What Holy Communion is. 


They £te their last meal together, and our Sav¬ 
iour conversed with them about all that was to 
happen to Him. He bade them all farewell in 
the most affectionate and loving manner, as a 
father, about to depart on a long and painful 
journey, would do to his children. 

When this was over, He solemnly took bread 
in His hands and blessed it, and gave it to them, 
saying these words: “Take, eat; this is My 
Body.” Then He took.thecup containing wine, 
and said: ‘ ‘ Drink ye all of this ; this is My 
Blood.” When he spake these words, “Thisis 
My Body,” “This is My Blood,” that which 
He said really became a fact. What He held in 
His hands became His Body and His Blood. It 
was bread before, but on speaking the word it 
was bread no longer; it became His Body. It 
was wine before, but ceased to be wine at the 
Lord’s word, and became His blood. Such is 
now the faith of the Church, and such has been 
the faith in all ages. 

Now you may ask : “ What is meant by the 
Body of the Lord, and the Blood of the Lord ? ” 
By both these expressions is meant the true, 
living Body of Christ. That is, the Body of the 
Lord, together with His Soul and His Divinity. 
In short, the Lord Himself, perfect and com¬ 
plete. All the qualities of bread and wine, the 
look, the taste, the smell, remain just as they 
were before ; yet there is no bread and wine ; 



What Holy Communion is. 


119 


it is the Lord’s Body and Blood, the Lord Him¬ 
self. 

“How can these things be?” That is a 
question which will be often asked, not by the 
good Catholic, who believes simply on the word 
of the Lord, but by those who are strangers to 
the faith. I do not doubt many a good girl will 
be asked this question by a Protestant friend or 
acquaintance. 

The answer is: It is by the power of God, 
who can do all things. We might ask those 
who put this question : 4 4 Please tell me how the 
Lord of heaven and earth can be contained in 
the little Babe of Bethlehem, crying and moan¬ 
ing on the straw? ” But the Wise Men of the 
East did not ask the question: 4 4 How can it 
be ? ” They fell down on their knees and 
adored Him. 

Or, 44 Tell me how it was that the Lord, with 
His Flesh and Blood, could pass through the 
closed doors and appear suddenly among His 
disciples?” He certainly did so, for they felt 
the wounds in His hands and in His feet, and 
found His body as solid and real as that of any 
other person. 

The only answer they can make to these ques¬ 
tions is: “It was by His divine, almighty 
power.” Just so; and by the same divine, 
almighty power He is really and truly in the 
Sacrament of the Eucharist under the appear- 



120 


What Holy Communion is. 


ances of bread and wine. Hear what St. Cyril 
of Jerusalem says so beautifully about it: 
“When He, therefore, pronounced and said of 
the bread, * This is My Body,’ who shall dare, 
after that, to doubt ? And when He, the very 
same person, so clearly declared, ‘ This is My 
Blood,’ who shall ever dare to hesitate to say 
that it is His Blood ? He formerly at Cana of 
Galilee changed water into wine, which resem¬ 
bles, in some measure, blood, and shall we con¬ 
sider Him unworthy of belief in changing wine 
into blood ? ” 

But I know every Catholic girl who loves her 
faith will have the same spirit that St. Jane 
Frances of Chantal had when she was a little 
girl. A Protestant gentleman came to her 
father’s house, and in course of conversation 
ridiculed the doctrine that the Blessed Sacra¬ 
ment is really our Ford’s Body. The little girl 
could not endure this. Indignation filled her 
heart. The blood reddened her cheeks. 
“What!’’ she said, “do you say the Son of 
God is a liar ? Did he not say, ‘ This is My 
Body,’ and how do you say it is not His Body?’’ 
He tried to pacify her by little presents, but she 
threw them into the fire. “ So, ” she said, * ‘ will 
all burn in the eternal fire who wilfully deny 
the truth of God’s word.’’ 

What a blessed thing it is to believe that the 
Ford of Glory is, as the Council of Trent says, 



What Holy Communion is. 


121 


really, truly, and substantially present in the 
Blessed Sacrament; to believe that we may go 
to see Him at the altar where He is ; that we 
may lay all our wants before Him, talk with 
Him, learn to love Him ; that he comes to us in 
Communion at the altar, and is brought to us at 
our homes to go with us through the pains of 
sickness and through the valley of the shadow 
of death. 

I do not envy those who do not believe. They 
rob themselves of the greatest consolation it is 
possible to have in this dreary and miserable 
world. “ Oh!” said a Protestant minister, not 
long ago, in a sermon to his people, “if we 
could only suppose that the Bord was in some 
way really and bodily present among us as we 
kneel in the church, how our hearts would leap 
with joy and glow with a fire of devotion ! ” 

What his heart yearned for, that we know for 
certain we have in the bosom of the one, holy 
Catholic Church. Now let us see the effects of 
the Blessed Sacrament on the soul. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 


EFFECTS OF COMMUNION. 

^pHE Lord instituted His Sacrament under the 
appearance of bread. Why did He choose 
bread rather than anything else ? Because 
bread is our principal and best food—the staff 
of life, as it is justly called. 

Now, as bread, when it is eaten, is changed 
into our flesh and blood, and goes through 
every part of our body to make us strong and 
well, so the Blessed Sacrament enters the soul, 
nourishes it, and makes it strong and healthy. 
As the bread is changed into our flesh and blood 
to nourish us, so we are changed, in our souls, 
into Christ. 

All the dispositions of our souls become like 
those of Christ. Everything bad in us is cor¬ 
rected, everything good in us is strengthened. 
As bread makes the body grow to its full size, 
so the Blessed Sacrament makes all virtues 
grow in us until we reach the full measure of 
holiness that God designs for us. 

Without food we should die ; the principle of 
life would not remain in our bodies. So the 
Eord has said of the Blessed Sacrament: ‘ ‘ Ex¬ 
cept ye eat My Flesh, and drink My Blood, 


122 


Effects of Communion. 


123 


ye shall not have life in you. He that eateth 
My Flesh and drinketh My Blood hath ever¬ 
lasting life, and I will raise him up at the last 
day: for My Flesh is meat indeed, and My 
Blood is drink indeed. He who eateth My 
Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me, 
and I in him. As the living Father hath sent 
Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth 
Me, the same shall also live by Me ” (St. John 
vi. 54 ^ 58 ). 

The Blessed Sacrament is then everything to 
us. It is the means of keeping the principle of 
life in the soul; that everlasting life, unto which 
body and soul must be preserved until the hour 
of death ! 

It is the medicine of the sick soul, tenderly 
nursing it, and giving it strength against all the 
dangers that threaten it with death. 

How magnificent the simple words of our 
Ford Jesus, when He began to speak of this 
sacrament, “ I am the bread of life ! ” Yes, it 
is He, the Ford of Glory, that comes into our 
souls in the sacrament, to be the bread of life to 
us. What may we not ask of Him when He 
comes ? what may we not expect to receive ? 
The All-Powerful, the All-Good comes to and 
visits our souls on purpose to do us good, able to 
do everything, willing to do everything; with 
unspeakable love, desiring to do everything 
for us. 



124 


Effects of Communion . 


O dearest handmaids of the L,ord! with 
what desire and love you should long to receive 
Holy Communion ! If you want to form an idea 
of the benefits of receiving Holy Communion, 
consider the beautiful little example related in 
the Gospel of St. Matthew of the woman who 
was healed of the issue of blood. I cannot do 
better than use the very words of Scripture: 
‘ ‘ And behold a woman who was troubled with 
an issue of blood twelve years, came behind 
Him and touched the hem of His garment; for 
she said within herself: ‘ If I shall but touch 
His garment I shall be healed.’ But Jesus turn¬ 
ing around and seeing her, said : ‘ Take cour- 
• age, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.’ 
And the woman was made whole from that 
hour” (St. Matt. ix. 20, 21, 22). 

The poor woman expected great things from 
merely touching the garment of Jesus. She was 
not deceived. What may we not expect, de¬ 
voutly receiving the same Jesus into our souls? 



CHAPTER XXXV. 


PREPARATION FOR COMMUNION. 

'T'HE foregoing example explains also the 
^ spirit in which we should prepare ourselves 
for Holy Communion. Many have an idea that 
the proper preparation consists in saying many 
prayers out of a prayer-book, or going through 
the various acts of faith, hope, charity, and con¬ 
trition which they find laid down for the purpose. 

This is all very well if those acts are made 
at the same time with the heart; that is, with 
real, genuine sincerity, knowing what they 
mean, and meaning to do what they say. 
Merely reciting them over, with the idea that 
this is all that is required, is a very poor pre¬ 
paration indeed. 

They may be read over with some feeling, 
and yet we may not have a sincere disposition 
to love God and keep His commandments. 
One may have no disposition to amend his 
faults, may even think that this feeling good a 
little while until after Communion is over is 
enough, and will leave him free to live a life of 
sin until he sets to work to feel good again, in 
order to prepare for another Communion. 

False piety of this kind is an abomination in 
125 


126 


Preparation for Communion. 


the eyes of God. “This people honoreth Me 
with their lips, while their heart is far from 
Me” (St. Matt. xv. 8). 

The true preparation for Communion con¬ 
sists, first, in being in a state of grace ; or, in 
other words, being free from mortal sin. To 
receive Communion knowingly in the state of 
mortal sin is a sacrilege, or unworthy treatment 
of the Holy Sacrament—a very grievous sin 
itself—for, as the Holy Ghost says : ‘ ‘ What 
fellowship can there be between justice and in¬ 
justice?” (2 Cor. vi. 14). 

How can God come into the heart which be¬ 
longs to Satan ? This is what the holy Apostle, 
St. Paul, speaks of, calling it “ unworthy com¬ 
munion.” “He that eateth and drinketh un¬ 
worthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to him¬ 
self, not discerning the Lord’s Body” (1 Cor. 
xi. 28). 

To the evil disposed, who have no sincere 
disposition to continue always free from mortal 
sin, I would say: Take care how you receive. 
Turn about; change your hearts; cleanse your 
souls from sin before you presume to take the 
Lord’s Body, that you may not eat and drink 
judgment or damnation to yourselves. 

To the good girl, who lives habitually in the 
grace of God, I would say: You are already 
prepared. You could even go to Communion 
without confession; but I know very well you 



Preparation for Communion. 


127 


would not desire to do that, for even if it be not 
required to confess, you would wish to do it, 
and to be as well prepared as possible. 

Make, then, with pure heart, confession of 
your faults, humbly desiring to amend them all, 
small as well as great. If any kind of cursing, 
be it ever so light, has fallen from your mouth, 
determine to stop it. If temper has overcome 
you sometimes, resolve to keep in mind the 
sweetness that Jesus desires^of you ; to put down 
impatience, murmuring, and all such things. 
Determine to watch over and correct faults of 
neglect, wastefulness, and carelessness in per¬ 
forming your duty. 

Make up your mind that truth, in all things, 
shall be told, and lying and deceitfulness be 
trodden under your feet, as unworthy one who 
receives the God of truth. 

With such desires and such resolutions ap¬ 
proach your confession, and you will make just 
the preparation the Holy Ghost puts in the 
mouth of King David : “ I will wash my hands 
in innocence, and so will I approach Thy altar, 
O my God” (Ps. xxvi. 6). You will wash 
your heart with the Blood of Christ in holy 
Confession; come out of it pure and innocent, 
and approach the altar, lovely in the eyes of the 
Tamb of God, Jesus, who loves above all things 
the whiteness of innocence, and purity from the 
stains of sin. 



128 


Preparation for Communion. 


After Confession bear in mind that the time 
for your Communion is near, remember Who it 
is that is coming to visit you, and consider it 
the greatest and happiest event of your lives. 
Now is a good time to make acts of faith, con¬ 
trition, love, humility, etc., either out of a 
book, or, if you can, out of your own hearts. 

Promise, over and over again, to the Lord, 
that you will be for ever a most true and faith¬ 
ful servant of His, and that it shall be the study 
of your lives to observe such conduct and do 
such things as you think will be most pleasing 
to Him. 

These generous resolutions will be most 
pleasing to Jesus, and as good a preparation as 
you could make. An entire offering of your 
whole heart and soul, mind and body, will and 
understanding, to be guided and governed by 
the holy will of Jesus Christ, made -with your 
whole soul, will be the most acceptable offering 
you can make your Lord when you receive 
Him. This is enough to say about the pre¬ 
paration of the soul. 

In respect to the body, you know you must 
be fasting from food and drink from midnight 
before the morning of your Communion. 
Should you have accidentally taken anything 
it is no sin, but you will have to put off your 
Communion until another day. 



CHArTER XXXVI. 


BEHAVIOR AT AND AFTER COMMUNION. 

G O to the altar neatly and modestly dressed 
out of respect to the Eord you are to re¬ 
ceive ; as the Scripture says, “ Eet your modesty 
be known unto all men” (Phil. iv. 5). Show 
piety and modesty in the way you approach and 
go away from the altar. 

And take care to spend some time in devout 
prayers and thanksgiving after Communion- 
This is the very best time of all to pray, because 
Jesus is with you, on purpose to hear you. He 
is always present, it is true ; for He is God, who 
is everywhere, but He gives us a peculiar claim 
to be heard and to get our requests when He 
comes to see us. 

When a great person goes to see one in hum¬ 
ble circumstances, he does not go with empty 
hands ; so our Lord has abundance of graces to 
bestow on us when we ask for them after Com¬ 
munion. 

The late Queen of Belgium, Maria Amelia, 
was a pious Christian ; she thought more of fol¬ 
lowing Jesus Christ’s example than of all her 
royal splendor. So she used to slip out of her 
palace, dressed like a poor woman, with a large 

129 


130 Behavior at and after Communion* 

basket on her arm filled with warm clothing for 
the poor, with medicines and delicate food for 
the sick. 

She would slip down into the cellars and un¬ 
der-ground rooms, where the poor people live, to 
comfort them and give them what they needed. 
And she smiled on them with so much affection, 
and spoke such kind words to them, that she 
made them forget all their poverty for a little 
while, in the sunshine of her presence. 

This is what our Lord Jesus Christ does for 
us. He forgets who He is and comes into our 
hearts, poor and dark as they are, with nothing 
but sympathy and kindness for us. The fact 
is, what the Queen of Belgium used to do was 
only a little spark which had kindled her heart 
out of that fire that burns all the time in the 
heart of Jesus Christ. 

Spend then some time, at least fifteen minutes 
if you can, or half an hour, in talking with your 
Saviour and begging for all you need for body 
or soul, but especially for the soul, which is 
your great concern after all. 

Sometimes we see people going to the altar 
to receive, and going out of church immediately 
after, without even waiting a short five minutes. 
I cannot help thinking in such cases of what 
happened once to our Saviour. 

Ten men who had the leprosy came to Him 
and asked Him to heal them. He told them to 



How often to Receive Communion. 131 


go and show themselves to the priest, and as 
they started off to go they were all healed. 
But nine of them kept on, and only one turned 
back to give thanks to the Lord for His great 
kindness. “Oh!” said the Saviour, “ten 
were healed, but where are the nine ? Only 
one has turned back to give thanks ” (St. Luke 
xvii. 13, 14). 

And after the thanksgiving is over, and you 
have gone home, from time to time during that 
day remember and cast a grateful look upon 
the Saviour for His goodness. St. Aloysius 
used to do this for a whole week after receiving. 
Oh, what benefits you will receive from such 
Communions ! 

Go, then, and receive regularly, and as often 
as your circumstances will permit. 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

HOW OFTEN SHOULD ONE RECEIVE COMMUNION ? 

B UT how often should one receive Com¬ 
munion ? That is for you to judge, with 
the advice of your confessor. As a general rule, 
for good girls who have the chance, I should 
say once a month would not be too often. It is 
the period chosen by most of those who are 
striving to lead devout lives, and experience 




132 Hozv often to Receive Communion. 

shows that to communicate as often as that 
has the happiest effects on the soul. Most of 
our pious confraternities are established on the 
principle of monthly Communion, and the Church 
encourages the practice by many indulgences 
granted to them. 

Besides, monthly Communion does not usu¬ 
ally interfere too much with what one has to do. 

Would that all our Catholic girls would 
take up this habit of Communion ! I am sure 
a thousand evils that now exist among them 
would speedily be stopped. Some go more fre¬ 
quently, and if the heart burns for the love of 
God and with desire to receive the Saviour in 
Communion, there is no reason why it should 
not be gratified. Some of the saints received 
every day. The early Christians did so. As 
the Scripture says : ‘ ‘ They continued in the 
daily breaking of bread ” ; by which is under¬ 
stood the Communion. 

St. Catherine of Siena was one of those who 
were all on fire with the love of Jesus Christ, 
and she longed for Communion so much that 
finally she got permission to receive every day. 
This did not seem exactly right to a very wor¬ 
thy bishop, who perhaps did not understand 
how holy she was, and who was not accustomed 
to see people receive so often. 

One day he said to her: “ I am afraid you 
are not doing as you ought in receiving so often, 



How often to Receive Communion. 133 


for I remember what St. Augustine says about 
it: That to receive every day is a thing I nei¬ 
ther praise nor blame, but to receive every Sun¬ 
day I exhort you.” She replied : “Well, Right 
Reverend Father, if St. Augustine does not 
blame me, why do you?” He was so much 
struck by the force of this answer that he had 
no more to say. 

But it is very few that, like these saints, can 
go every day. It is out of most people’s power 
to go as often as that if they would. Indeed, 
very few can go as often as once a week, there¬ 
fore I think once in the month suits for most 
people better than any other period. 

I do not like once in the quarter, or more 
rarely, so well, but it may be that one cannot 
go oftener ; in such case God will take the will 
for the deed. 

Hedooks at the heart, and if he sees in it an 
ardent desire to receive, though in fact we do 
not receive, for want of opportunity, he will not 
allow us to lose anything by it, but make it up 
to us abundantly in some other way. 

So it was with the hermits of the desert, with 
St. Mary of Egypt and others who were far 
away from any priest, and who could receive 
only here and there at long intervals, when they 
had the opportunity, yet they are among the 
greatest of the saints. 

To close the subject, let me relate to you how 



134 How oftC 7 i to Receive Communion . 


St. Juliana received Holy Communion on her 
death-bed. Although of a noble family, she gave 
up all splendor and riches and chose for her¬ 
self the portion of Jesus Christ, poverty and 
labor. 

Her hard and severe life and continued absti¬ 
nence brought on a weakness of the stomach, so 
that she was not able to retain the food she took, 
and on that account she could not receive Holy 
Communion. 

Every one, however, noticed her wonderful 
patience and cheerfulness amid her distress. No 
complaint came from her mouth, except one. 
She found it hard to be deprived of the Blessed 
Sacrament. Her heart was fixed on Jesus her 
Saviour, and, amid her pains, could she only 
have received Him she would have been con¬ 
tent. 

She begged her confessor that as she could 
not receive, he would, at least, bring the Blessed 
Sacrament and place it on her breast. Her en¬ 
treaties were so earnest that at last he yielded 
and complied with her request, but at the very 
moment he did so the Bread of Heaven disap¬ 
peared, and Juliana, with serene and joyful 
countenance, breathed out her soul. 

Those who were present could scarcely believe 
what they saw, until, when her chaste body was 
prepared for burial, the exact form of the sacred 
Host, bearing the image of Jesus crucified, was 



On Special Devotions . 


135 


found stamped upon her left breast near the 
heart. 

What an example of the desire of the devout 
soul to receive, and of the desire of Jesus to 
come to all those who long to receive Him! 


I 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

ON SPECIAL DEVOTIONS. 


“ T3UT please tell us, now that you have spoken 

U of daily prayer and the Sacraments, what 
special devotions we ought to practise.” 

We read in the lives of the saints of their 
having different special devotions and reciting 
special prayers according to their devotion. For 
example, St. John Gualbert forgave the mur¬ 
derer of his brother, who begged forgiveness 
through the Five Sacred Wounds of our Ford, 
to which St. John had a special devotion. 

St. Juliana had a special devotion to the 
Blessed Sacrament, and through her exertions 
the feast of Corpus Christi was established in 
honor of it. 

Ven. Margaret Mary Alacoque was devoted 
to the Sacred Heart of our Lord, considering es¬ 
pecially His love for us all. 

St. Teresa speaks in the highest terms of de¬ 
votion to St. Joseph, and of the benefits derived 




136 On Special Devotions. 

from his intercession. All the saints have had a 
special devotion to our Blessed Lady. Some of 
them as the “ Mother of Sorrows,” some as the 
“Refuge of Sinners,” or the “ Help of Chris¬ 
tians, ” or to some particular mystery or event 
of her life. 

‘ ‘ What special devotion would you recom¬ 
mend to us ? ” To answer this question we 
must look into it a little. What is the meaning 
or idea of any special devotion whatever ? It is 
nothing more nor less than a special or particu¬ 
lar way of raising the soul to God, either by 
viewing Him in a particular light, as, for ex¬ 
ample, in some circumstances of the life of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, His Agony in the Garden, 
His Five Wounds, or His Crucifixion, or as 
present in the Blessed Sacrament, or the special 
devotion to the Holy Ghost. Or else in consid¬ 
ering God’s goodness and love and power as 
shown in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or 
of the saints, and begging their prayers in our 
behalf. 

God must be the end of all our devotion. To 
learn to know Him and to love Him better, is 
the sum and substance of all that we should pro¬ 
pose to ourselves in all our prayers and all our 
devotions. 

All special devotions, of whatever kind they 
may be, should be performed with the idea of 
uniting ourselves more perfectly to God, and 



On Special Devotions. 


137 


not because others have performed them, or out 
of a mere routine or habit. 

If they really nourish the soul and promote 
solid virtue, they may be practised; if they have 
not an effect of this kind, they are better let 
alone. 

It appears to me that when a person is loaded 
down with a great number of special devotions 
and prayers, the soul is likely to be hindered 
rather than assisted in uniting itself to God by 
them. 

And the reason of this is, that God Himself is 
not brought enough in view, but the mind rather 
taken up with such a number of things that it 
becomes either wearied out and distracted, or 
else we’ become merely creatures of a world of 
formal observances. 

If a special devotion grows up naturally in 
our hearts, as, for example, when from reading 
the glorious actions of a particular saint we are 
powerfully excited to follow his example and 
pushed on to love God greatly, then it is very 
good, and we hope that saint will take an inter¬ 
est in us and beg his or her prayers. We love 
that saint and we set a great value on his love 
and assistance. We see from this how unfounded 
the idea is that special devotions lead us away 
from God, that they are in opposition to devo¬ 
tion to God. Why do we love to visit the good, 
listen to their conversation and beg • their 




38 


On Special Devotions. 


prayers? Because we are anxious to know 
and love God better, and these things help 
us on. 

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, or to St. Jo¬ 
seph, or an apostle or saint, is of precisely the 
same nature. We love and admire them be¬ 
cause they are so much like God and so beloved 
by Him. We imitate them because their con¬ 
duct was agreeable to God, and we beg their 
prayers because they are friends of God. 

If devotion of a special nature is not produced 
by such a motive, it is good for nothing. If it 
takes the place of, and hinders the course of the 
soul to God, I am ready to admit that it is 
hurtful. 

Suppose, for example, that a person should be 
running about begging the prayers of pious peo¬ 
ple without praying himself, we should not 
commend his conduct, although it is a good 
thing to ask the prayers of the pious. 

So I am inclined to think that one who is oc¬ 
cupied with a great round of litanies and special 
prayers to different saints, without thinking 
much of God, is on a false track of devotion. 

But abuse of a thing or excess in it does not 
hinder the proper and discreet use of it, and 
special devotions to the Blessed Virgin and the 
saints are very profitable. Det us then refer 
them all to God, practise them all with a view 
to God’s love, and the Holy Ghost will directus 



Of Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament . 139 


when to use them, and how far each one of us 
may profitably carry them. 

I will say something of devotion to the Blessed 
Sacrament, and to the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
and to the saints, all of which must find their 
place in a true life of devotion to God. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

OF DKVOTION TO THE BEESSED SACRAMENT. 

W HEN the priest at the altar during the 
Mass pronounces the sacred words of con¬ 
secration, that which was bread before ceases 
to be bread, and becomes the Body of Christ. 
He then raises this sacred Body, which is no less 
than Christ Himself, in his hands, above his 
head, the bell is rung, and all the faithful bow 
themselves down in humble adoration of their 
God and Saviour. 

Under the appearance of bread is the L,ord 
Jesus Christ, at whose very name “every knee 
shall bow of things in heaven, of things on the 
earth, and of things under the earth.” And 
after the consecration Jesus remains in the sacred 
particle, or Host, as it is called, until it is con¬ 
sumed. 

In the sacred Host within the Tabernacle is 
Jesus. There he remains night and day, and 




140 Of Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. 


as long as He is there He is entitled to be wor¬ 
shipped and adored the same as when He was 
raised on high during the Mass. 

By devotion to the Blessed Sacrament I mean, 
besides Mass and Communion, adoration, love, 
and prayers to Jesus at other times, while He 
remains on our altars. 

As soon as we come into church what do we 
see ? A light burning before the altar, to indi¬ 
cate the presence of God in the Sacrament. Not 
God surrounded by thunder and lightning in 
His majesty to judge us, but God in a humble, 
silent form, to love us and do us good. 

What an emotion of awe and veneration 
should fill our souls when we think that God 
Himself is present! what love and gratitude 
when we think how He is present, and why! 
The Almighty God is present, but as one of us, 
and our best friend. 

Just as if we could see Jesus Christ sitting 
there with a most gentle and benignant coun¬ 
tenance, calling out to us and telling us to come 
nearer and tell Him all about our affairs, what 
weighs on our hearts and what we want Him 
to do for us. Oh! then, when we are in church, 
do not let us forget for a moment who is there. 
Do not let us be so disrespectful to the Lord as 
to talk or laugh, but think of Him and pray to 
Him. 

“How dreadful is this place!” said Jacob, 



Of Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. 141 


when the Lord appeared to him; ‘ ‘ this is no 
other but the house of God and the gate of 
heaven” (Gen. xxviii. 17). And Moses put off 
the shoes from his feet when the Lord showed 
Himself. “ Take off thy shoes,” said a voice to 
him, ‘‘for the place thou standest on is holy 
ground” (Ex. iii. 5). 

Surely, when one has once been told of the 
presence of Christ in the Sacrament, I should 
think he could never, to the longest day of his 
life, forget himself so far as to indulge in the 
slightest light or unbecoming behavior. 

You have heard how the magnet draws to it¬ 
self pieces of iron; they fly to it and stick 
closely to it, because there is a power in that 
magnet which they cannot resist. So your hearts 
ought to be drawn to the tabernacle where 
Jesus is. 

Oh ! how I love to see the altar-rail surround¬ 
ed with devout men and women praying. They 
get as close to Jesus as they can. How lively 
is their faith, and how strong their devcut pray¬ 
ers, and how ardent their desires to be pleasing 
to Him! Then is the time grace is pouring in¬ 
to their souls. 

After all, this is the great devotion of the 
Church. What can compare with it ? You can¬ 
not be too devout to the Blessed Sacrament. 
When you get the opportunity, pay. a visit to 
the Sacrament during the week. 



142 Of Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament . 


If you had a very dear friend you would want 
to see that friend every day ; so desire to go and 
see the dearest and best Friend you have every 
day. 

Go and nestle up as close as you can to that 
Friend who can protect you from all harm and 
fill you with consolation. 

If you cannot actually make the visit to the 
church, make one in spirit by turning towards 
the place where the Sacrament is kept and de¬ 
voutly lifting up your soul to Him. 

If the priest should happen at any time to 
open the tabernacle when you are in church, 
kneel at once in adoration of the Saviour exposed 
to view. 

If the Sacrament is brought to any house 
where you are, take care that everything shall 
be prepared beforehand: the room swept and 
put in order, a table with a clean white cloth, a 
crucifix, and a lighted candle upon it. 

In all things and in all places show that you 
know well the honor and respect due to your 
Ford and Saviour. 

Another devotion most agreeable to God and 
useful to yourself is what is called spiritual com¬ 
munion ; that is, to excite a longing desire in 
your heart of receiving Communion, and to love 
the Ford and to pray to Him the same as if you 
had actually received. 

Many holy persons have found great comfort 



Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 143 


and help from this practice. Blessed Joanna of 
the Cross declared she received the same graces 
from her spiritual as from her actual communion. 
‘ ‘ O excellent method of communicating! ’ ’ she 
exclaimed, ‘ ‘ in which one does not need to make 
confession, nor ask permission, nor the help of 
any but God alone.” 

How beautiful to be able as often as one likes 
to draw near to Jesus and receive Him in spirit, 
with a lively faith, almost as one would at the 
altar itself. Many souls will find a great help in 
such kind of devotions. 


CHAPTER XL. 

ON DEVOTION TO THE BEESSED VIRGIN MARY. 

N EXT to devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, 
which is beyond comparison above and be¬ 
fore all others, as God is above all creatures, 
comes the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
the Mother of our Divine Saviour. 

Why should we cherish a tender love for 
her? Because she is the mother of our Lord. 
How can we love the Lord without loving her, 
who is His own mother? How foolish it is then 
to try to separate the love of the one from that 
of the other, or the devotion of the one from that 
of the other! 




144 Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 


All true love and true devotion to the Blessed 
Virgin is grounded on our love for our L,ord 
Jesus Christ. She took care of Him, she is the 
most beloved by Him, she was the most worthy 
to be His mother, and she is His mother. 

Of course, then, she is above all the saints, 
and deserves especial love and veneration. And 
she has always had it, and always will have it, 
according to her own prophecy : “ Behold, from 
henceforth all nations shall call me blessed ’ ’ (St. 
kuke i. 48). 

And as the Blessed Virgin is nearest and dear¬ 
est to Jesus Christ, so is her power to help us 
greatest. How can the Saviour refuse anything 
to His own mother ? If we desire anything 
from Him, we cannot do better than to add to 
our own prayers those of His mother, and beg 
her to intercede for us. 

Pray earnestly and frequently to the mother 
of God : expose all your wants to her, and that 
you may be agreeable to her cherish a deep and 
tender love to her. And what kind of love is 
most suitable ? That of a child to the best of 
mothers. 

When St. Teresa lost her mother her heart 
was breaking with grief. She was very young 
at the time, and in the simplicity of her heart 
she knelt down and said to the Blessed Virgin : 
“Now my mother is dead, I have no one to take 
care of me ; you must be a mother to me as long 



Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 145 


as I live,” shedding a torrent of tears at the 
same time. What a good mother the Blessed 
Virgin proved herself to St. Teresa; and what 
a consoling thought it is that a poor girl amid 
all her temptations, severe trials and afflictions, 
can have the blessed thought of that dear mother 
in Heaven watching over her with loving eyes, 
and with all a mother’s interest, in her truest 
welfare. That surely is enough to make a 
gleam of sunshine in the darkest day for the 
soul. 

But if we would have this good mother for 
our own, we must take care to make ourselves 
agreeable to her. And how is that best done ? 
I will tell you. Love her Son dearly, and she 
will love you dearly. And how shall her Son be 
loved dearly ? By following his own example 
that he set us while he lived upon earth. By 
following the pure, the humble, innocent, chari¬ 
table, example his own mother the Virgin her¬ 
self has set us. 

Ask yourself frequently, How would Jesus 
Christ, how would the Blessed Virgin, act under 
these circumstances ? how would they be pleased 
to see me act ? and then act accordingly. 
“ Learn of me,” says our Lord, ” for I am meek 
and humble of heart.” Of what use is it to re¬ 
cite devotions, to say the Rosary, or wear the 
Scapular, when you pay no attention to imi¬ 
tate the conduct of the Blessed Virgin? 



146 Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 


Some wear the Scapular and lead wicked 
lives. They say : “ One cannot be eternally lost 
who wears the Scapular.” Now, one who en¬ 
courages himself to go on in wickedness with 
the idea of being preserved from the conse¬ 
quences of sin by wearing the Scapular, instead 
of getting any good from it, will only be making 
his damnation more certain. 

The Scapular was intended as a badge of the 
true, faithful servants of Mary, who strive to 
live lives worthy of such a badge and of such an 
example. Great graces are annexed to wear¬ 
ing it with such an intention, but none to a 
superstitious and wicked use of it, such as I 
have described above. 

A true soldier honors his uniform by his 
conduct. He stands to his colors as to his life, 
and so those who wear the Scapular should re¬ 
member that they must walk worthy of that 
blessed habit and uniform of the Blessed Virgin 
with which they have been invested. We may 
think that a person of this sort, who wears the 
Scapular, cannot be lost, but not so of any 
other. 

laving, then, in such a way as to please the 
Mother of God, we may invoke her assistance 
with great confidence in all our temptations, for 
she is able and willing to help us. Particularly 
is this the case in those against the virtue of 
purity. This most pure Virgin seems peculiarly 



Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary . 147 


ready to help us to keep that virtue which was 
so peculiarly her own. In all temptations, at 
the very first thought, fly to her protection. 
Pronounce the holy names of Jesus and Mary, 
and you will be strengthened so that you will 
not give the least consent to such a horrid temp¬ 
tation. 

Pray a good deal to the Holy Virgin, either 
out of books, reciting her litany, Little Office, or 
other prayers; or use that excellent devotion, 
the Rosary; or pray out of the heart, talking 
familiarly and lovingly with her, and thinking 
over her life, and how yours may be like it. 

Devotion to our Lady will make you under¬ 
stand better what the Lord has done for you in 
becoming a little child, and having a real 
woman for his mother, and deepen your love 
for Him. So that the Church rightly considers 
this true devotion to the Mother of God of very 
great consequence in reference to the love of 
God, which is the aim and end of our exis¬ 
tence here in this world. 



CHAPTER XLI. 


DEVOTION TO SAINTS. 

P RAY to the saints. They stand in the pres¬ 
ence of God, and are His dear friends. 
They have gone through what we will have' to 
go through. They know well our dangers and 
our trials. Let us pray for their intercession, 
and they will pray for us. 

Let us imitate their virtues, their humility, 
patience, meekness, charity, etc. What flesh 
and blood, by the grace of God, has done, can 
be done again by the same grace. To think of 
the saints and examine their lives is a wonder¬ 
ful encouragement to us. 

I cannot understand why those outside of the 
Church should entertain so much repugnance to 
the doctrine of the intercession of the saints. 
It seems to be the very first and foremost of all 
their objections to our Holy Faith, that we pray 
to the Blessed Virgin and the saints, and yet 
nothing is more natural and more in accordance 
with reason and religion, or more consoling and 
encouraging. 

How often we hear such expressions as 
these: “You Catholics are idolatrous; you 
pray to the saints. You Catholics place the 

148 


Devotion to Saints. 


149 


Virgin Mary and the saints in place of God ; in 
place of the Saviour. Do you not pray to 
them?” “Yes.” ‘‘Well, then, what need is 
there of further proof? You confess all that we 
have accused you of.” Not at all ; we pray to 
the saints, but it by no means follows that we 
put them in any way in place of God or of 
our Saviour. 

If it did follow, then it must equally follow 
that we are guilty of idolatry if we ask a friend 
or pious acquaintance to pray for us. We put 
that friend or acquaintance just as much in the 
place of the Saviour, when we ask his prayers, 
as we do the saint when we ask his prayer. 
Every prayer to the Blessed Virgin or the 
saints is a prayer for their help, or for their 
prayers with God, or what is called ‘ ‘ interces¬ 
sion ” ; there is nothing about it, in any way, 
that goes beyond the help or intercession of a 
friend in this world. 

‘ ‘ But how do we know they can hear our 
prayers ? Is not that making them equal to 
God, to suppose them to know everything that 
goes on in the world, in all its different parts at 
the same time ? ’ ’ 

No, it is not. I know a vast number of 
things that go on all over the world, a short 
time after they happen, by looking into the 
newspaper of a morning ; but I know very little 
after all; and if a saint, whose soul is with 



i5o 


Devotion to Saints . 


God, in His very presence, should look into 
God’s all-knowledge, and see there, as in a mir¬ 
ror, all that is going on in the world, that he 
cares to know or is interested about, or all 
about the salvation of all the souls struggling in 
the world, it would not be much, after all, com¬ 
pared with the infinite wisdom of God. People 
who make such objections ought to think a little 
bit on God’s infinite wisdom, and they will an¬ 
swer their own objections without troubling any 
one else with them. 

The Scripture tells us we are encompassed 
with a cloud of witnesses. “ And therefore we 
also having so great a cloud of witnesses over 
us, laying aside every weight and the sin that 
surroundeth us, by patience let us run to the 
fight proposed to us ” (Hebrews xii. i). 

Who are those ‘ ‘ witnesses over us t ” ? 
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, Joseph and 
Moses, and all those who in old times lived 
by faith in God’s fear, and are now dead. 
These, as well as the prophet Jeremias, are 
they who are ‘ ‘ hovers of their brethren and of 
the people of Israel,” and “ who pray much for 
the people and for all the holy city ” (2 Macc. 
xv. 14). 

And, indeed, our own hearts tell us how 
proper and right it is that our friends in the 
other world should know and feel in regard to 
all that interests our eternal salvation. We re- 



True Idea of Service. 151 

joice in the thought that a mother, or sister, or 
brother is watching over us from the heaven of 
happiness, and helping us in our troubles. 

I have heard it myself from the lips of Pro¬ 
testant ministers, in their prayers at funerals, 
and all the bystanders approved of it, although 
it was nothing more nor less than the Catholic 
doctrine of the intercession of saints which these 
same people are so shocked at in the practice of 
the Catholic Church. 

Think over the example of the saints, parti¬ 
cularly of those which instruct you the most 
and excite you most strongly to the love and 
service of God. Thus you will keep up the 
“communion of saints,” and draw down upon 
yourselves many blessings. 


CHAPTER XEII. 

TRUK IDKA OF SKRVICK. 

N OW, my dear girls, if there be any grumblers 
among you, I am not going to leave you a 
single word to say. I don’t care how many 
complaints you have to make, or what troubles 
you have to endure. If you are under the most 
disagreeable and hardest foreman in the factory, 
or have the crossest old woman for a mistress 
that ever lived, or ever so hard work to do, or 




152 


True Idea of Service. 


low wages, or poor fare, and no thanks, I don’t 
care: I am determined to make 3^011 own up 
that it is all first-rate, and could not be better. 

I am going to shut your mouths. And how 
shall I go to work to do it, particularly as there 
are some whose mouths it is not easy to shut ? 
In the same way that they shut up a child’s 
mouth : by putting a big sugar-plum in it. I 
am going to show you the sweetest and most 
heart-cheering words,spoken by the Holy Ghost, 
about your service : words which ought to make 
the tears start to your eyes when you read them, 
and your hearts leap with joy. 

Listen to these words: ‘ ‘ Servants, obey in 
all things your masters according to the flesh, 
not serving to the eye as pleasing men, but in 
simplicity of heart, fearing God. Whatsoever 
you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord and 
not to men ” (Col. iii. 22). • 

Understand well the meaning of these words. 
All your service is here taken by the Lord as if 
it were His own service. How happy you must 
think those holy women were who went around 
with our Lord Jesus Christ, ministering to His 
wants, and following Him wherever He went, to 
prepare His food and lodging; but you see by 
these words that you can do the same thing 
for our Lord Jesus Christ, if in simplicity of 
heart and a pure intention you weave cloth in 
the factory, stand behind the counter to sell 



True Idea of Service. 


153 


goods, do any other kind of work for your em¬ 
ployer, or do the cooking and make the beds for 
the family in which you live. 

In the last day, if you do your duties with 
this spirit of doing all for the Lord and not for 
men, the Lord will say to you: “Come, ye 
blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom pre¬ 
pared for you from the foundation of the world. 
For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat: I was 
thirsty, and ye gave me to drink,” etc. (St. 
Matt. xxv. 35). Then you will say: “ Lordf 
when did we ever see Thee hungry and feed 
Thee, thirsty and give Thee drink?” and the 
Ford shall reply: “Did I not tell you to perform 
all your duties in simplicity of heart as to Me, 
and not as to men? You have done so, and’I 
reckon it all as done to Myself.” 

When the work comes hard, and you are 
tired out standing all day at the loom or running 
your sewing-machine, or scrubbing the floors, or 
washing the clothes or the dishes, think, “ I am 
doing all this for my Lord Jesus Christ.” Not 
a single drop of sweat, not a single pain or ache 
is without his notice. Do such work with cheer¬ 
fulness, as being glad to suffer something in 
Christ’s service, and all your heartache, at least, 
will disappear. You will be wonderfully sus¬ 
tained and supported, no matter what may be 
your trial. 

The Lord Jesus Christ knew well that a poor 



i 54 


True Idea of Service. 


girl who has to earn her living would have a 
good deal to suffer, and a good deal to put up 
with. His heart was filled with compassion, 
and He determined to raise her condition so 
high as to be above and beyond all its sorrows 
and miseries, just as a high mountain in the 
clear blue air is above all the smoke and filthy 
fogs of the low swamps. 

How has He done this ? By raising her ser¬ 
vice to the dignity and greatness of a service 
done to Himself. Kings and queens cannot be 
more than servants of the Most High. You, 
then, are raised to the level of kings and queens 
and more, for the Lord has never so lovingly 
promised to accept their service as He has yours. 


CHAPTER XRIII. 

TRUK IDEA OF SERVICE.—HOW TO CORRE¬ 
SPOND TO IT. 

OUT in order to gain all the advantage the 
U Lord offers you, you must bear in mind the 
conditions he requires of you: “Servants, be 
obedient in all things to your masters, not serv¬ 
ing to the eye as pleasing men, but in simplicity 
of heart, fearing God. Whatsoever you do, do 
it from the heart, as to the Eord, and not to 
men.” 




How to Correspond to It . 


155 


That means, Do your duty, and do it well. 
Do it as well as if you saw the Lord looking at 
you, and were doing it for Him. Do not at all 
consider who your employer may be, but look at 
Christ. 

If the mistress is ill-favored and ill-tempered, 
or handsome and gracious, let it be all one to 
you. Our Blessed Saviour is beautiful and gra¬ 
cious enough, and, after all, it is He whom you 
are serving. 

Suppose the mistress is overbearing and hard 
to please—it’s “ Bridget, here ” and “ Bridget, 
there,” without rhyme or reason; never mind— 
every time you go here or go there the Lord 
is pleased and delighted with your ready and 
cheerful obedience to that overbearing and diffi¬ 
cult mistress. 

Suppose your mistress is fussy, and thinks 
she knows a good deal more than she does know, 
and wants to have her own way, when your way 
is better; let her have her own way; obey 
readily and pleasantly ; that is the way to please 
the Lord. 

Suppose she scolds you unjustly, when you 
have committed no fault; bear it patiently : let 
the storm blow over. For it is the Lord that 
has placed her over you, and who says, “ Obey 
in all things ”—that is to say, where there is no 
sin or wrong. 

And this is true whatever may be your em- 



156 


True Idea of Service. 


ployment, whether in the shop or in the factory, 
or if you do work at home for others, endeavor 
to be as faithful and as willing as if you were 
working for our Lord Himself. 

If you think there is just cause of complaint, 
or you could better your condition elsewhere, 
you are at liberty to leave; but as long as you 
are there observe this line of conduct, and your 
service will be all for the Lord. 

You know how it is when you look out of the 
window at a pleasant prospect; you do not stop 
to consider the glass you look through. So do 
not stop to consider the faults or imperfections 
of your employers ; see only Jesus, your Master 
and your best Friend, shining through them. 
If you live with a Jew, or a heathen even, that 
makes no difference; only consider that they 
represent the Lord to you. Try in every way 
to show obedience, respect, and duty to them. 

If a little, dirty, impudent girl were to bring 
a message to you from your mistress, you would 
not consider who brings it, but who sends it, 
and you would obey it. So think—no matter 
who your employers may be—that all their com¬ 
mands have been sent by the Lord to you, 
through their means, and that you are fulfilling 
them for Him. That is the way the saints 
looked at things, and they delighted in nothing 
so much as to do that kind of work which others 
despised. 



CHAPTER XlylV. 


TRUE IDEA OF SERVICE.—EXAMPLES. 

OT. AMEDEE, who was of a noble family, 
^ a relative of the Emperor Conrad, begged 
permission to clean the shoes of his brethren, 
and rub them over with stinking grease. One 
day his uncle, a nobleman, came to see him, 
and found him greasing these old, dirty, rough 
shoes. Do you think he was scandalized at the 
sight ? Not a bit. He thanked God that his 
nephew understood so well the blessing and the 
nobility of being a servant of Jesus Christ. 

In the good old Catholic times, when faith 
was warm, masters and mistresses understood so 
well the advantages of serving others, that they 
themselves used sometimes to become servants, 
and wait upon their own servants and serve the 
poor. 

St. Harvia, the wife of the Duke of Silesia, 
used to be taken sometimes for a servant, while 
she was feeding and waiting upon more than 
fifty poor persons in the great hall of her hus¬ 
band’s castle. 

How different is this conduct from that of 
many a girl, who, when she is sometimes called 
upon for a service a little out of her line, and 
157 


58 


True Idea of Service. 


especially if she considers it a little lower than 
her ordinary work, says: “I’m not going to 
black shoes for anybody,’’ “I’m nobody’s nig¬ 
ger.’’ And that, too, when she knows it is 
right to call on her under the circumstances, 
and that she ought to do it without a word. 
Such a one forgets all about serving the Lord. 

I remember well a lady, who was not above 
sweeping out the church of God herself, mildly 
asking a Catholic girl to help her, and what did 
she get for an answer? “I’m nobody’s nig¬ 
ger! ’’ You see this girl was not willing to be 
a servant of Christ, even in His own house. O 
Pride ! what do you not lead people to do ? 

Of St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi it is said : 
“ She regarded God in all whom she served, and 
taught her sisters to do the same, saying : ‘You 
should think yourselves unworthy to serve souls, 
who are the tabernacles of the Holy Ghost, and 
see God in all.’ Although she was a choir- 
sister, and not obliged to work with the lay- 
sisters, she chose to do it. Nothing pleased her 
better than to make the bread, scour out the 
pots and kettles, and do the heavy washing. 
She would rise in the night, before a soul was 
stirring in the house, make the fire, draw the 
water, and put on the clothes to boil. She used 
sometimes to send around and gather up all the 
dirty clothes in the day-time, and go down and 
wash them all out at night. Whenever others 



Examples . 


159 


were working with her she took on herself the 
hardest of the work, and would insist on doing 
it all herself, if they would let her. She would 
say : ‘ Now I know you are tired, go and rest, 
and let me do it.’ ” 

Yet she was a lady by birth and education, 
and had everything in her father’s house that 
heart could wish. Why did she do all this? 
Simply because she considered Christ in all she 
did. In the simplicity of her heart she did it as 
if it were all done for the Lord. 

St. Vincent of Paul was obliged to enter the 
service of Mr. De Gondi, to educate his chil¬ 
dren. Now listen to the way in which he dis¬ 
charged his duties : ‘ ‘ To sanctify himself in 

this new office, he proposed to himself to honor 
Jesus Christ in the person of Mr. De Gondi, the 
Blessed Virgin in that of his wife, and the dis¬ 
ciples of our Saviour in those of the servants of 
the family. 

‘ ‘ He candidly acknowledged that thi$ manner 
of acting, which seemed extremely simple, was 
of great service to him; and that seeing God 
alone, under different aspects, in all the persons 
with whom he was engaged, obliged him to do 
nothing before men which he would not have 
done before our Lord Jesus Christ, if he had had 
the happiness of seeing Him and talking with 
Him when He was on the earth ” (Life of St. 
Vincent of Paul ). 



i6o 


True Idea of Service. 


Now, girls, I would like to ask if I have not 
been as good as my word, and shut the mouths 
of all the grumblers and complainers ? Have I 
not shut up their mouths with the sweetest 
sugar-plum ? 

In all your hard work, all scoldings and fault¬ 
findings, in all that touches your pride or your 
feelings, have I not put you right in the pres¬ 
ence of Jesus Christ, who whispers in your ears : 
“Never mind, my good girl; it is not for Mrs. 
Smith, nor Mrs. Jones, nor Mrs. Anybody-else 
you have to do this; it is for Me, your Saviour, 
who loves you dearly. The time is soon coming 
when you will be amply rewarded for it all. Do 
it patiently, do it humbly, do it without repin¬ 
ing—in one word, with a good will, and I ac¬ 
cept all as done to Myself.” 

Now, to sum up all that has been said in an¬ 
swer to the question : In what spirit should you 
discharge your duties ? I say : Took neither to 
the right nor to the left, but look at Jesus Christ 
above, and do all for Him, and as you think 
will best please Him. 



CHAPTER XEV. 


on the choice of a peace. 

IT ANY a Catholic girl has been good at home, 
^ has attended to her duties, and to all ap • 
pearances has loved her religion, and yet after a 
little while at service all her piety seems to have 
disappeared. 

She does not go to Mass, she goes gadding 
about the streets day and night, talks all kind 
of talk, spends her wages foolishly, and becomes 
what you may call a wicked girl; at least she is 
anything but in the grace of God. 

A good deal of this has been brought about 
by her getting into an unsuitable place, where 
bad companions or evil example has destroyed 
her good principles. 

A really good girl, who strives to obey the 
voice of Godin her heart—that is, her conscience 
—will, I feel sure, sooner or later get a good 
place, for she is worth her weight in gold to her 
employer. But she may, at first, have to take 
up with places that are not very good, until her 
true merit is found out. She ought, however, 
to be on the lookout to find a place suitable to 
her ; and what kind of place is that? 

I can only give some general directions, and 

161 


162 On the Choice of a Place . 

then leave the rest to each one’s prudence and 
good sense. You should try to get some kind of 
employment in which you will be favorably situat¬ 
ed for leading a virtuous and holy life. That is, 
certainly, the very first thing to be attended to. 

Some, and it may be not bad-intentioned, 
girls are so carried away with the idea of high 
wages that they think of nothing else. A dol¬ 
lar or a half a dollar more a month carries the 
day with them, although they run the risk of 
losing what money cannot buy—that is, purity 
and innocence of soul. 

Girls in good places, where they have every 
privilege of attending Mass, where they have 
time and fine opportunities for prayer, where 
they have a quiet, respectable home, get their 
heads turned on hearing that they can get a 
trifle more wages somewhere else. Nothing 
will do but they must go there, and they find 
out that they cannot get to Mass at all, or 
very seldom ; that the work is harder, and that 
they are kept in a state of confusion the whole 
time, so that they can scarcely pray at all. 

Now, surely, there is no objection to a girl’s 
trying to get good wages. If she can get the 
highest wages going, I do not blame her. She 
has to get her living, and has good uses for all 
she can earn. I do not blame her for desiring 
not to be overworked, and to have a comfortable 
situation. 



On the Choice of a Place . 


163 


But these things are not the first of all to be 
looked out for. We should attend to spiritual 
advantages first, and then we may look to other 
things. “Seek first the kingdom of God and 
His justice, and other things shall be added to 
you ” (St. Matt. vi. 33). 

I would advise you then, in the first place, 
to avoid, if possible, engaging yourselves in 
hotels, taverns, inns, saloons, or other places 
where there is a crowd of people, and where 
gambling or drinking is carried on. In such 
places there are generally a number of persons 
employed at service. Now, you know the old 
saying, that one scabby sheep infects the whole 
flock, so when there are many working to¬ 
gether some are almost sure to be bad, and to 
exercise a bad influence on the good. Besides, 
I know very well that a great deal of sin of dif¬ 
ferent kinds is apt to be carried on in such 
places, which makes them unfit for a modest, 
pious young woman. 

Who would like to live with a number of 
others, be obliged to eat at the same table, talk 
w T ith them, and see them constantly, when 
some of them are neglecters of all their reli¬ 
gious duties; others filthy in their conversa¬ 
tion ; others full of bad temper and spitefulness ; 
others full of little petty dishonesty, and 
neglecting their duties in the house ? 

What kind of a place is it for a good girl 



164 


On the Choice of a Place . 


where drinking and carousing, cursing and 
swearing, and filthy talk is going on all 
around ? Go to no place whatever where you 
can foresee that you will be obliged to live in 
the midst of open and unblushing sin, but 
where there is at least decency, and a chance to 
take care of yourself in quiet. 

To be sure, there are hotels which are re¬ 
spectable enough, and I do not doubt that a 
good girl might possibly live a good life in 
them. I have known very good women in such 
places; but, after all, even the best are poor 
places for most young women ; a private family 
is much more suitable. 

Among private families, no doubt such as 
are Catholic are to be preferred to others, pro¬ 
vided they are good and practical. As to care¬ 
less and indifferent Catholic families, I have not 
a word to say in their favor; indeed, among 
them the temptation to become careless and 
indifferent may be greater than among Pro¬ 
testants. 

And after all, most girls who live out must 
find situations among those who are not Catho¬ 
lic, because the number of Catholic families is 
small compared with the rest. 

Now, among Protestant families, which should 
a good girl prefer ? Those in which she is at 
liberty to attend her religious duties. She 
should always inquire before she engages her- 



On the Choice of a Place. 


165 


self: ‘ ‘ How often can I be allowed to attend 
Mass?” Unless what might be called a rea¬ 
sonable answer, under the circumstances^ is 
given to this question, I should certainly go 
further and try for something more satisfactory. 

Also there should be nothing required that 
will hinder entire freedom of conscience. No 
employer, who is likely to be a good one, will 
ever think of interfering with your religious 
rights. The same freedom of conscience which 
they claim for themselves they will be ready to 
allow to others. 

Do not engage anywhere where attendance 
at family prayers is required, for it is unjust for 
them to demand it and improper for you to 
comply. Say to all such, “ I say my own 
prayers, and will try to discharge my duties 
faithfully ; more than that I cannot and will not 
do.” If this is not satisfactory, go somewhere 
else. 

If it is all right in regard to your religious 
duties, inquire into other circumstances; see 
whether the duties are such as you are able to 
discharge, for you have no right to undertake 
what you cannot perform. Find out how many 
are in the family, and how many other persons 
are employed. See them if you can, and judge 
whether on the whole you can live with them to 
advantage. 

There are many things which a prudent girl 



166 How to Regard 0?ie's Employers. 


can judge of better by her own eyes and ears 
than by what any one can tell her. Eet her, 
then, with prayer to God, go about this busi¬ 
ness of choosing a place with a good motive to 
start on, and all the prudence she is possessed 
of, and do the best she can, with resignation to 
the divine will. God will be sure to place her, 
not perhaps where it is in all respects the most 
pleasant and agreeable to nature, but where it 
is most profitable and best for her. 


CHAPTER XGVI. 

HOW TO REGARD ONE’S EMPLOYERS. 

W HERE both parties to the agreement are 
good Catholics, filled heart and soul with 
a desire to do the will of God, and working out 
their salvation with all the earnestness it de¬ 
serves, the relation between them becomes a 
most beautiful one. 

The workman endeavors to please his em¬ 
ployer, doing all that has to be done, not be¬ 
cause he is compelled to do it, but of a good 
will, remembering the Scripture : “ With a good 
will doing service, as unto the Eord and not to 
men, knowing that whatsoever good every one 
shall do the same he shall receive of the Eord, 
whether bond or free ” (Eph. vi. 7 ). 




How to Regard One's Employers . 167 

He obeys his employer in the simplicity of 
his heart, as he would obey Jesus Christ—that 
is, with the utmost respect and affection. Such 
a one will say to himself: “ We are brothers in 
Jesus Christ, both redeemed by His precious 
blood, both equal in all Christian privileges, 
both equal in God’s sight, with whom there is 
no respect of persons ; and which of us shall be 
highest in heaven will depend on who has been 
the most faithful in our station on earth. But I 
must remember that we have been placed by 
God’s will in different positions. My dignity 
and honor, in God’s sight, will depend on my 
not forgetting for a moment the position He has 
placed me in, and in behaving accordingly. 

Such a one will not feel degraded or lowered 
one bit by obeying any just demands. He will 
feel a noble pride and honor in performing them. 
No matter what it is he has to do, whether it is 
cleaning out sewers, or feeding pigs, or blacking 
boots, or washing dirty clothes; it makes no 
difference. All these things are quite indiffer¬ 
ent in themselves, and when it comes in the 
line of duty to do them, it is a glory and honor 
for us to do them. 

Take a doctor, for example ; let him come to 
visit his sick patient; suppose he wears a gold 
watch and has on white kid gloves, he must 
dress loathsome sores, and he must perform of¬ 
tentimes the most disagreeable offices, and if he 




168 How to Regard One's Employers. 


does not do it, it is a shame and disgrace to 
him, both in the eyes of God and of men. 

So, a good Catholic will throw overboard 
all foolish and hateful pride, and accept from 
the heart his position and all that it brings 
along with it, and simply look to do its duties, 
cheerfully, to the best of his power. He will 
love his employer at the same time that he serves 
him. His employer’s interest will be his own. 
The children of the family will be dear to him ; 
in short, the house will be truly his home, and 
his employers will be like second father and 
mother to him. 

And the good employer will entertain corre¬ 
sponding sentiments towards his dependents. 
He will remember the words of the Holy 
Ghost, who, after telling those who serve 
what their conduct ought to be, says : ‘ ‘ And 

you, masters, do the same thing to them, for¬ 
bearing threatenings ; knowing that the Lord 
both of them and you is in heaven, and there is 
no respect of persons with Him ” (Eph. vi. 9). 

Such a master will never forget that all in his 
employ are his brethren in Jesus Christ, and he 
will feel a deep interest in their welfare, both of 
soul and body. 

A good mistress will be anxious that her do¬ 
mestics should attend Mass every Sunday, and 
regulate the household accordingly. She will 
endeavor to have them attend to Confession and 



How to Regard One's Employers. 169 


Communion ; warn them against extravagance, 
light behavior, and bad company. We have an 
example of this in the Prince de Cond£, who 
would have his servants attend Mass every day. 
He used to notice even if the smallest boy was 
absent, and watched over their conduct as if he 
felt a responsibility for their souls. 

To a good man his dependents will be in 
many respects like his own children. Of course, 
then, he will “forbear threatenings,” that is, 
harsh conduct, when it is uncalled for. Chil¬ 
dren must be threatened sometimes for their 
own good, so must those who work carelessly, 
but it will not be done in an unfeeling and domi¬ 
neering way. He will never look down upon 
and despise those under him, but respect them 
as brethren in the Lord. And for one who has 
served him faithfully he will feel the deepest 
respect as well as affection. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 


CONTINUATION.—EXAMPLES. 

H OW beautifully this mutual confidence and 
love is described in the Bible in the case 
of Abraham and his oldest servant, Eliezer, 
whom he had set over all his goods. Abraham 
trusted him with everything, even to go and 
choose a wife for his son Isaac. He explained 
to him all his wishes, and made him take an 
oath that he would not pick out a wife for his 
son among the heathen women of the Cha- 
naanites, but go to the country and kindred 
from whence he had come and get one. 

Now listen to the conduct of this good ser¬ 
vant : When he came to the town where the 
kindred of Abraham dwelt, he made this 
prayer; “ O Lord, the God of my master Abra¬ 
ham, meet me to-day, I beseech thee, and show 
kindness to my master Abraham” (Gen. xxiv. 
12 ). 

What a love and veneration, what an in¬ 
terest in all that concerned his master, is shown 
in these words ! And when he had succeeded, 
by God’s help, in discharging the duty which 
he was sent upon, he was as thankful as if it 
had been his own matter, and he says : ‘ ‘ Fall- 

170 


Hoiv to Regard One's Employers. lyt 


ing down I adored the Lord, blessing the Lord 
God of my master Abraham, who hath brought 
me the straight way to take the daughter of my 
masters brother for his son ” (Gen. xxiv. 48). 

The good old man forgets himself in the 
affection he bears to Abraham and his son 
Isaac. There is no false pride here, he is not a 
bit ashamed to speak all the time of his master 
Abraham. He never overstepped the limit of 
perfect respect, and yet I am sure there was so 
much fidelity and goodness about him that he 
had pretty much his own way, being ruler, as 
the Scripture says, over all that Abraham had. 

Where such feelings exist between both par¬ 
ties, we find them living together for years ; for 
such employers would feel the loss of a faithful 
helper almost as the loss of a child, and the 
feeling is the same on the other side. 

“ What a charm,” says the Baron de Prelie, 
‘ ‘ when masters and servants grow old together! 
What a joy to old age when it is served by 
ancient domestics, accustomed to its mode of 
life! I have knowm no house happier in this 
respect than that of the great Siguier, Chan¬ 
cellor of France. All his servants had grown 
old with him, and if we did not always see the 
same faces, we saw always the same persons. 
As their constitutions were not so strong as his 
own most of them broke down on the way, and 
he saw them die before himself, leaving but 



172 How to Regard One's Employers. 


little behind them, though after forty years’ ser¬ 
vice in the house of a chancellor. ’ ’ 

So it is written of the great empress, the 
mother of Charles the Sixth, that at her death 
she assembled all her household and took leave 
of them, even to the lowest little servant, call¬ 
ing them by name. 

Of the lovely little St. Zita, we read that, 
her parents hearing of a pious family among 
the nobility with whom they felt sure their 
daughter would have a good chance to live 
virtuously, they brought her to them at the age 
of twelve years. 

At first, before her goodness became known, 
she was scolded a good deal, and spoken 
harshly to ; but she accepted all so humbly 
that after a little while they loved her dearly, 
and even held her in great veneration. There 
she lived, without ever changing her place, for 
nearly fifty years, until she was carried to her 
grave. She loved the children dearly and they 
loved her. She was always delighted to do 
them any kindness. It is said in her Tife that 
she felt like a mother to them, and was always 
ready to take the nurse’s place and relieve her 
of fatigue and annoyance. 

Such ought to be the relation between em¬ 
ployers and domestics, where both are Catholics. 
But, alas! that there are so many cases in 
which good Catholics are despised or disliked 



How to Regard One's Employers . 173 


by their domestics. Sometimes the very reason 
why a girl is dissatisfied and seeks another 
place is, because a real interest is felt in hav¬ 
ing her well cared for in all respects, and in 
seeing her live a good life. 

“ I declare, there is no living in this house, 
where you can’t do anything without being 
brought up for it ! What business is it to the 
madam whether I go to Mass or not ? I wish 
she’d let me alone. I declare, I never will live 
in a Catholic family again ; I’ll go among Prot¬ 
estants, where I sha’n’t always be bothered 
about going to church and going to confession, 
and keeping fast days, and keeping abstinence, 
and this and that. I wish folks would mind 
their own business !” Such is the language of 
many a girl who calls herself a Catholic, but 
who shows little of the spirit of one. 

Another good girl has a first-rate Catholic 
home, where she is liked, and where she gets 
the highest wages, and light work, and every 
privilege, and where she might live as long as 
she likes. All goes along as well as possible for 
awhile. Then she gets restless. She must 
have a change ; some little foolish annoyance 
perhaps works on her mind, or, more likely, a 
mere fancy. She must change her place. 

She gets a notion to go with somebody to 
California, as waiting-maid or cook ; or to Aus¬ 
tralia, or somewhere or other. Off she goes in 



174 How to Regard One s Employers. 

spite of everything, and in a month’s time she 
would almost give her right hand to be back 
again. 

At other times she will go off to a Protestant 
family, where she gets less wages, has harder 
work, cannot get out to Mass, or to see her 
friends, and all merely out of a light, foolish 
head, that does not seem to have a grain of good 
sense in it. This restlessness is, I have no 
doubt, a kind of sickness, like home-sickness ; 
and the only way to treat it is, to despise it; to 
pray to God, and seek peace in your heart in 
Him in whom alone you can find it. If you 
change your place on account of it, you only 
make it worse. 

You know how a kernel of corn on a hot 
griddle flies about, jumps here and jumps there, 
and can’t be still a minute, when it once gets 
going. So it will be with you, if you are weak 
enough to go away from a good place for such 
frivolous and light reasons. 

Put up with a great deal of real difficulty, 
when you have got a good place, before you 
think of leaving it. If another girl there is bad, 
and therefore is disagreeable to you, wait awhile ; 
she may be sent off or go away. 

Remember the proverb : “A rolling stone 
gathers no moss ’ ’ ; and the other: “Go far¬ 
ther and fare worse.” Many a girl has found 
it so, to her own sorrow. No employer is abso- 



How to Regard One's Employers. 175 


lutely perfect and faultless, any more than you 
are yourself. Don’t fly in a passion, then, when 
anything disagreeable happens. If they are 
really good in the main, put up with a defect 
or fault in them now and then. Overlook it; 
it will all come right in a little while. They 
have, no doubt, as much to put up with from 
you as you from them. 

If St. Zita had flown into a passion when she 
was scolded unjustly, she would have lost the 
best of places and the happiest life in the world, 
and never, never, would have become a saint 
and honored over the whole world, as she is 
now. 


CHAPTER XEVIII. 

CONTINUATION. 

B UT you may say to me : “It is seldom or 
never that these most delightful relations 
can exist nowadays. There are few who are 
bound together by the ties of the same faith, 
and who are actuated by such pure and holy 
motives in their conduct. 

“ The employers are, for the most part, Pro¬ 
testant, and many of them very indifferent in 
principle, and very difficult to get along with.” 
Well, now, let us look into it a little. 




176 How to Regard One's Employers. 


Suppose you are in what you might call a 
good place, among those who are not Catholics. 
They respect your religion enough to let you 
alone about it, and afford you all reasonable 
privileges in exercising it. In regard to other 
things they are kind, and feel an interest in 
you. What is to hinder love and affection to¬ 
wards them ? They certainly in such case de¬ 
serve it. 

I know many instances where such employers 
would do anything almost for the welfare of a 
good girl living with them. Mutual respect 
and affection can exist here in a high degree. 
I do not say that it will be as great as if they 
were of the household of faith : that cannot be 
expected; but nothing hinders it from being 
very great. Nothing hinders one from living 
happily and contentedly in such a place all one’s 
life. 

But suppose you live with a very fashionable 
lady who takes little interest in her domestics. 
Suppose she has not the way about her to be on 
pleasant terms with those of her household, yet 
is satisfied if things go along right, sometimes 
speaks a word or so, but does not seem to give 
herself much trouble about it anyway. 

Of course, you could not be expected to be 
so much attached to her, in such a case. But 
you can mind your own affairs, and take what 
good words you get in a good spirit; think well 



How to Regard One's Employers . 177 


of her as far as possible, and thank God that 
you have after all a good home where you can 
serve Him. 

But now we can suppose something else. 
The mistress is cross and peevish, and finds 
fault when she has no right to. Her temper 
often occasions a good deal of heart-burning. 
Many of her ways are excessively disagreeable. 

Still you must remember, in that case, the 
authority she has from God Himself; she is set 
over you while you are in her house, and as 
you would not be justified in abusing your 
father or mother, even if they were ill-tempered, 
so you are not justified in railing against her. 

To sum up all, you should endeavor to show 
your employers respect in all cases; to feel as 
much interest as you can, as a member of the 
family ; and as much affection and love as is 
possible, considering their character and con¬ 
duct. 




CHAPTER XEIX. 


doctrine op scripture on this subject. 
HE Holy Scripture clearly lays down this 



A doctrine : “ Eet servants be subject to their 
masters, pleasing them in all things, not contra¬ 
dicting, not defrauding, but in all things show¬ 
ing good fidelity, that they may adorn the 
doctrine of God our Saviour in all things ’ ’ 
(Titus ii. 9). 

What does the Holy Ghost say to those per¬ 
sons who work for Catholics? Pay particular 
attention to the words, for they are full of mean¬ 
ing : ‘ ‘ But they who have believing masters, 

let them not despise them because they are 
brethren, but serve them rather, because they 
are faithful and beloved” (1 Tim. vi. 2). 

This seems to be very strange advice to give 
—to tell a man not to despise his master because 
he is good and amiable towards him. What can 
be the meaning of it ? 

I will tell you. The good, kind employer 
puts aside all pride and haughtiness, and speaks 
kindly and with some degree of familiarity to 
all his dependents. Now, when the person 
spoken to is proud, with but little good sense, 
he takes this all wrong. 


Doctrine of Scripture on this Subject. 179 


He loses respect, and begins to get impudent 
and disagreeable. The Holy Ghost means to 
warn us against such conduct, and says what 
amounts to this : If your employers, in wishing 
to' make you happy, and out of Christian love 
and interest in you, treat you as a friend and a 
child, do not take advantage of such treatment 
to be impudent and disagreeable to them. 

Do not let the devil fill your heart with wick¬ 
ed pride, to despise them and disobey them; 
but rather be more anxious to serve them with 
faithfulness and love. 

The same remark applies to every kind and 
loving employer, whether he belong to the 
‘ ‘ household of faith ’ ’ or not, and whatever the 
employment may be. There is the same tempta¬ 
tion to forget one’s self through pride, and the 
same obligation to be more humble, respectful, 
and attentive. 

Now, what is said of unreasonable and ill- 
tempered employers ? “ Servants, be subject to 

your masters with all fear; not only to the good 
and gentle, but also to the froward” (1 Peter ii. 
15)— i.e.y to the cross and ill-tempered. “For 
this is worthy of thanks, if for conscience towards 
God a man endure sorrows, suffering wrongfully. 
For what glory is it, if, sinning and being buf¬ 
feted, you suffer it? But if, doing well, you 
suffer patiently, this is thank-worthy before 
God” (1 Peter ii. 19, 20), 



i8o 


Of Diligence . 


And the example of our Saviour is given to 
add weight to this : “ For unto this you have 

been called; because Christ also suffered for us, 
leaving you an example that you should follow 
His steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile 
found in His mouth. Who, when He was re¬ 
viled did not revile: when He suffered, He 
threatened not, but delivered Himself to him 
that judged Him unjustly ” (i Peter ii. 22, 23). 


CHAPTER E. 


OF DILIGENCE. 


HE great Apostle, St. Paul, when he stood 



^ before King Agrippa, gave an account of 
his conversion and labors. He says that at mid¬ 
day a great light from heaven shone around him 
exceeding the brightness of the sun, which 
struck himself and his companions to the 
ground, and that a voice spoke to him, telling 
him that he was chosen to open the eyes of the 
people who were in darkness, and to bring them 
to enjoy the lot of the saints in heaven. 

Now he adds: “ I was obedient to the heaven¬ 
ly vision, preaching everywhere to the Jews and 
the gentiles” (Actsxxvi. 19, 20). We all know 
how he labored with his whole heart and soul, 




Of Diligence. 


181 


suffering pains, afflictions, fatigues, persecu¬ 
tions, almost passing belief, until he closed his 
eyes in death. What was the reason he gave 
himself so little rest ? 

It was because he was directed by the Lord 
to work, and because it was the lord’s work he 
was doing. Now, you have the same reason for 
diligence and painstaking in your work that St. 
Paul had in his. He was told to work by a 
voice from heaven. ‘ ‘ He was not unmindful of 
the heavenly vision.” You too have been told 
by a voice from heaven—the voice of the Holy 
Ghost—“Whatsoever ye do, do it from the 
heart, as to the Lord, and not to men. Knowing 
that ye shall receive from the Lord the reward 
of inheritance. Serve ye the Lord Christ” 
(Col. iii. 24). 

This is the thought of all thoughts to be 
kept ever before the mind ; which will give you 
strength and courage to do all that we should 
do, and to do it in the very best way. 

Take, for example, a girl who ha§ work to 
do from morning till night. Early in the morn¬ 
ing of a washing-day she wakes up. There is 
a heap of clothes to wash ; there is breakfast to 
get, and, it may be, the chief part of the work of 
a family to do. It will require all her time and 
strength to do it. When she wakes up it 
seems a dismal prospect to her. “Oh, dear! 
how I shall have to slave it to-day ! ’ * 



182 


Of Diligence. 


But now the thought comes, “For Jesus 
Christ, oh! do it cheerfully for His sake.” In 
an instant she is out of bed. “ Oh, yes!” she 
says, “ I could not be better employed.” She 
draws water, makes the fire, fills her kettles; 
there is not a bit of sulkiness or grumbling 
about it. One thing goes off after another. It 
is astonishing how this thought makes her do 
everything so easily and so well. Her appetite 
is good ; and at night she goes to bed full of 
good health, and with the best conscience in the 
world. Ah! this is the girl who has got the 
grand secret. 

Yes, my dear girls, if you want to be good 
and happy, be diligent. Make it a point of 
conscience not to neglect your work, nor to do 
it in a lazy or careless way. It is a matter of 
conscience, for when you receive wages you are 
bound to give your labor in return. L,ook into 
a factory where hundreds of people are as busy 
as bees, and even there you will find many 
idlers. They say to themselves, “ I don’t mean 
to kill myself working ; I shall only get a day’s 
wages any how”; so they dawdle over their 
work as much as they dare. Others, who are 
paid by the actual work they do, slight it all 
they can, so as to get along faster and make a 
little more money at the end of the week. This 
is not true diligence, but dishonest haste. You 
are bound to discharge the duty or office you 



Of Diligence. 


183 


take upon yourself in a perfect manner, or as it 
is expected that it should be done. 

And as the Lord will reward you for a faith¬ 
ful and diligent performance of it, so He will 
call you to account and judge you if you neglect 
it. This is why the Scripture says we must 
not be “ eye-servants.” 

What is an eye-servant? It is one, if I un¬ 
derstand it, who does her duty when the em¬ 
ployer’s eye is upon her, but who neglects it 
when her back is turned. One who is very 
plausible to one’s face ; who says, “Oh, yes ! ” 
but who cannot be depended upon. Such girls 
do not care ; they love their own ease and com¬ 
fort more than they love their plain duty, more 
than they love to please God. 

Go into the kitchen where such a girl works. 
What do you see ? Well, you may seldom see 
it in order. The floor is dirty; unwashed 
dishes and dirty clothes are lying around, when 
everything ought to be put away. Breakfast, 
dinner, and supper are always behind-time. 

Then, you find the potatoes half boiled, or 
the meat burnt so that you cannot eat it. The 
table is half set. The work is always done in a 
most slovenly manner, or not done at all. 

Such a girl is the occasion of a great deal of 
sin. She provokes ill-temper and defrauds her 
employers of what they had a right to expect; 
from her. 



Of Diligence. 


184 

The Scripture describes it well: ‘ ‘ As vine¬ 
gar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the 
sluggard to him that sent him ” (Prov. x. 25). 

The mistress goes down into the kitchen; 
there are her girls sitting down with their hands 
in their laps, talking with one another, or with 
an acquaintance that has come in. There they 
have been a full half-hour, and everything be- 
hind-hand. It is enough to ruffle the temper of 
a saint. 

Another girl is always running out to see the 
girl in the next house, leaving the dinner to 
take care of itself. Another has chamber-work 
to do : it is the same ; until late in the morning 
all is in confusion. If the children are to be 
cared for, the poor little things are not half 
dressed, they get bruised and thumped because 
they are not watched and attended to as they 
ought to be. 

If several girls are living together, there is an 
everlasting strife as to whose business it is to do 
this or to do that, and half the work is not done, 
and every now and then the only thing to do is 
to clear out the whole set and get another. 
Perhaps some poor innocent girl then has to 
suffer from the negligence of her companions. 



CHAPTER El. 


ADVANTAGES OF DILIGENCE. 

TAON’T be afraid of labor or trouble. The in- 
dustrious girl will not have near as much 
work to do as the lazy and shiftless one. Why ? 
Because she manages so that her work is done 
with much less trouble. She goes right at it 
without allowing it ever to get the upper hand 
of her. 

If a good deal is to be done in the morning, 
she gets things ready over-night. A great many 
things can be done better then than in the morn¬ 
ing. One girl will get up in the morning : there 
is the fire all out; no kindling-wood ready; the 
sticks all wet; the kettle to be filled with water; 
the coffee to be ground ; the meat to be chopped; 
everything to be done. She says, “Dear me! 
there is no living in such a place as this. I 
don’t know where my head is, I’ve so much to 
do.” 

Another girl, of more orderly habits, has had 
plenty of time over-night to make all these pre¬ 
parations. She has only to light a match, and 
in a minute has a good blazing fire ; her break¬ 
fast is all ready to put on to cook ; and without 
a bit of fuss or disturbance of mind it is ready 
185 


186 Advantages of Diligence. 

at the moment. So, from one year’s end to 
another, where such a girl is, there is peace 
and satisfaction all around, while with the 
other there is nothing but trouble and sor¬ 
row. 

This girl has never too much to do, and does 
all well. The other is half the time overloaded 
with work, and does it half, while the rest of her 
time she is lazy and idle, and committing sin 
right and left; for the old saying is true : ‘ ‘ The 
devil finds work enough for idle hands to do.” 
A person who performs her task, whatever it 
may be, with diligence and intelligence grows 
more and more perfect in it all the time. Took 
into the stores and factories and dress-making 
establishments, and these are the girls who are 
promoted in time to be the heads of departments, 
with others under their charge. Who ever heard 
of an idler gaining promotion in the honest 
ranks of labor ? 

Where is your true perfection and goodness ? 
It is in your work. You may think it is in your 
prayers, or in your hearing Mass, or in Confes¬ 
sion, or in Communion. All these things are 
good, all these things are necessary, but your 
perfection is in your work. 

Do your work well, and do it with the right 
intention, because it is your duty, and because it 
is God’s will you should do it, and you will be 
on the shortest road to perfection. All your 



Advantages of Diligence . 


87 


prayers, all your confessions, all your commu¬ 
nions, will avail little, if your conscience is not 
in your work. 

In a nice little story I have read lately there 
is a character called Fanny. Now, Fanny was 
very pious, a monthly communicant. She said 
her Rosary every day, and must always be at 
church, particularly when anything extraordin¬ 
ary was going on. One evening a celebrated 
man was to preach, and Fanny had set her heart 
on going. But, as it happened, at that very time 
company came in, and Fanny’s services were 
necessary ; she could not go. Now there was a 
time of it. All her mildness, all her piety was 
gone. “ She wouldn’t stand it, it was too bad!” 
and so on. 

The fact is, Fanny’s piety was not very deep. 
She was, after all, more bent on pleasing her¬ 
self than on pleasing God. She had an oppor¬ 
tunity, by putting up with her disappointment 
and doing her work cheerfully, to gain more 
than by hearing a dozen sermons. 

St. Zita, in her old age, used frequently to 
say that ‘ ‘ no servant is truly devout who is not 
laborious ; and that a lazy piety, in persons of 
their condition, is a false piety.” She practised 
it herself up to the letter. Not a single moment 
of her time was unoccupied. She was always 
ready, when her own work was done, to help 
others ; and as long as she saw anything left un- 



188 Advantages of Diligence. 

done about the bouse, she never considered her 
task over. 

That was the way. Every bit of her work 
was a prayer to God. It gave her no uneasiness 
that she could not retire to pray on her knees, or 
in the church, as long as work was to be done ; 
her readiness, her cheerfulness, her fidelity in 
work, were all so many sacrifices of sweet odor 
to God, so many prayers proceeding from such 
an humble, child-like faith. It was in this way 
that she brought down on herself those streams 
of grace that made her finally a saint, to be held 
in love and veneration throughout the church 
for all ages. 

KXAMPIyE. 

We have another beautiful example of dili¬ 
gence and attention in service in the life of a 
noble lady, Anne of Montmorency, written by 
Eady Georgiana Fullerton. The family of this 
lady were making preparations for her marriage, 
but she felt called by God to a different state of 
life—a state in which she could imitate the ex¬ 
ample of the Ford Jesus Christ more perfectly. 

When she found all her entreaties of no avail, 
she left her father’s house at the tender age of 
fifteen. No one knew what had become of her. 
She took the name of Jane Margaret, and hired 
herself out to a lady in a country village. 

The lady was so difficult in her temper that 



Advantages of Diligence . 


189 


no other girl could remain with her. All the 
work fell on Anne to do ; she was chambermaid, 
cook, and portress at the same time. 

Just think of that. A delicate young lady, 
always waited upon, never obliged to do any¬ 
thing in the way of hard work, of a high educa¬ 
tion and immense wealth, doing all this work ! 

And she did it well, too. For ten years she 
served in the utmost patience and fidelity. She 
overcame evil with good, so that when her mis¬ 
tress was dying, she called her to her bedside 
and begged her pardon for all she had made her 
suffer, and insisted on leaving her the sum of 
four thousand francs, in addition to her wages. 
Anne accepted it after some hesitation, and gave 
it all to the poor. 

Think over this example, and get from it all 
the good it teaches so eloquently. If you, born 
of poor parents and used to hard work, com¬ 
plain and neglect your duties, and pass your 
time in idleness, let the thought of this delicate 
and refined lady, working so patiently in the 
kitchen so many years, shame you into better 
sentiments. L,et it encourage you to overcome 
your natural weakness and the snares of the 
devil, until you acquire habits of industry and 
of faithful attention to your duties. Make this 
attempt in order to please God, and ask His 
help. He will not fail to give you abundant 
grace to accomplish it. 




CHAPTER EH. 


ON HONESTY. 

T HERE is one golden sentence of Holy Scrip¬ 
ture which ought to be deeply impressed 
on the heart of every girl who aims at making 
progress in the love of God. It is this: “But 
having food and raiment, let us be therewith 
content”(i Tim. vi. 8). I call it a golden sen¬ 
tence because it expresses so well the limits a 
good Christian should put to his desires if he 
would enjoy true contentment of mind. 

Would that we could all of us be satisfied, 
when God supplies the reasonable wants of the 
body without craving and worrying for those 
things which are not required, and which we 
are, for the most part, much better without. 

If we have enough food to keep us in good 
health and strength, and clothes to keep us de¬ 
cent and warm, we have all that we can make 
use of. The rest is superfluous, and when life 
has gone by, even if it lasts ninety years, we 
shall come to its end, not a bit better for all of 
it. As Scripture says: “We brought nothing 
into this world, and it is certain we can carry 
nothing out” (i Tim. vi. 7). 

The practical meaning of being content with 


On Honesty. 


191 


food and raiment is, that each one should be 
satisfied with that portion of this world’s goods 
which God assigns him, without repining and 
fretting because he has not more, and without 
taking any unjust means to get more. “For 
covetousness is the root of all evils, which some 
desiring have erred from the faith, and entangled 
themselves in many sorrows” (1 Tim. vi. 10). 

We are very apt to regard life and happiness 
as consisting in the possession of those superflu¬ 
ous goods, called riches. It is not so. Riches 
are very often but sorrows which entangle us, 
and snares which entrap us into the captivity 
of the devil. “How hardly shall they that 
have riches enter into the kingdom of God ’ ’ 
(St. Mark x. 23). 

If any have cause to complain of God, it is 
not the poor, but the rich ; for their chance of 
salvation is the worst. But no one has any 
right to complain. God distributes riches just 
as he pleases, and makes it best for each one 
to be just as he is : the rich to be rich, and the 
poor to be poor. The rich can be poor in spirit, 
and the poor rich in faith ; and that will bring 
all things right for both rich and poor. 

And God, having fixed matters in this way, 
will not allow the poor to steal away the goods 
of the rich. “ Thou shalt not steal ” (Kx. xx. 
15) is the commandment which applies to all, 
and which no one is at liberty to transgress. If 



192 


On Honesty . 


you have food and raiment you must be con¬ 
tented with it; and if your neighbor has a thou¬ 
sand times more than this of all kinds of lux¬ 
uries, and conveniences enough for years on 
years, you cannot reach out your hand to steal 
the smallest thing of his. This is the will of 
God; and His commandment, “ Thou shalt not 
steal,” stands like a wall of iron against it. 

I wish I could impress on each heart, so that 
it would never be forgotten, the necessity of 
perfect honesty in all things, small and great. 
It is difficult to perceive the evils likely to arise 
from the least want of principle in this respect. 
St. Paul expresses it very well when he says, 
“ Covetousness is the root of all evils.” 

From this root grows loss of character and 
happiness here, and loss of heaven hereafter. 
The love of money and possessions is so capti¬ 
vating, that when it has once taken root it is 
hard to pull it up from the heart. It grows 
stronger and stronger, until it takes up all the 
room in the heart, and leaves no place for the 
love of God. 

One would think that it would die away in 
old age and disappear; it is so foolish to be 
taken up with perishable and valueless things ; 
but no, it grows stronger and stronger to the 
very grave. For a handful of yellow dirt the 
soul is sold to the devil, and that dirt has to be 
left behind. “We can carry nothing out.” 



On Honesty. 


193 


How often it involves loss of happiness and 
character in this world! A girl has a good 
character. She is esteemed. She can easily 
get her living and have all she wants. But she 
begins to pilfer. It goes on from one thing to 
another, from small to great, until she is detect¬ 
ed and disgraced. 

The only way is, to stop at the very begin¬ 
ning ; to refrain from taking a pin’s worth. 
Have this principle, and there is no danger. 

I dare say you have heard the story of the 
young man who was condemned to be hanged 
for robbery, and who called to his old mother, as 
he stood under the gallows, to come up to him, 
as he had a word to whisper in her ear. She 
came up, sobbing and crying, when he, instead 
of saying anything to her, bit off her ear. 

“ O my son ! ” she cried, “what have I done 
that you should serve me so cruelly? ” “ It is,’’ 
he replied, “ for your cruelty to me in not cor¬ 
recting me for my first theft. If, instead of re¬ 
warding me for it, you had given me a sound 
whipping, I should have taken warning in time. 
That first theft has brought me to the gallows.” 

So, a little tea, or a little coffee or sugar, or 
an article of clothing of not much value, has 
brought many a poor girl to the loss of char¬ 
acter, and the loss of her soul. Many a weak, 
foolish girl, who has stood at a counter selling 
articles of finery, would have been horrified when 



194 


On Honesty . 


she took that first bit of ribbon if she could have 
seen the long line of pilferings that were to fol¬ 
low, until she stood a convicted thief behind 
prison bars. Give no heed to the devil who 
tempts; who says, “ Oh! it is not much, nobody 
will miss it; the owner is rich, and has more 
than he knows what to do with ; you are poor, 
and it will do you good ’ ’; but give heed to 
God, who says, “Thou shalt not steal,” and 
“Neither thieves, nor the covetous, nor the 
unjust,” etc., “shall enter the kingdom of 
Heaven” (i Cor. vi. io). 

We have a most fearful warning in the case 
of the Apostle Judas, who sold our Lord for 
thirty pieces of silver. How did he get so far 
as to betray his Lord and Master ? It was just 
in this way : by little and little. He let a covet¬ 
ous spirit have its way, first, in small things. 

He carried the bag in which the alms were 
placed which good people gave for the support 
of the Saviour and the Apostles. He looked 
with greedy eyes upon them, and began to pil¬ 
fer what he thought would not be missed. That 
cursed, avaricious feeling took root and grew in 
his heart, until he even bargained to betray the 
Lord Jesus Christ for thirty poor miserable 
pieces of silver. 



CHAPTER Till. 


CONTINUATION. 

T S not the same thing done nowadays ? A girl 
* comes to Confession. Everything goes on 
well enough until it comes out that she has 
stolen something of considerable though not 
very great value. She is admonished of the 
necessity of returning that amount, but abso¬ 
lutely refuses. She says, “ I cannot.” “ Why 
can you not ? ’ ’ says the confessor. ‘ ‘ Because 
I do not wish to.” “But have you not the 
means of doing it?” “Yes,” is the reply, 
“but I don’t want to part with the money.” 
‘ ‘ But you cannot be forgiven unless you do ; 
God’s law will notallow it.” She rises to go. 
‘ ‘ Stop, ’ ’ says the confessor, ‘ ‘ will you lose your 
soul for a trifling sum of money ? ” It seems 
so, for she persists, and goes away sorrowful. 
Money is more attractive to her than the grace 
of God, or the kingdom of heaven ; like the 
young man who, when told by the Saviour to 
sell his goods and follow Him, would not do it, 
but went away in sadness. 

I wish this were only a description of fancy. 
Alas! such cases have happened. And when 
the amount is greater, the difficulty of making 
195 


196 


On Honesty. 


good the theft becomes almost too great to be 
overcome. 

How many hundreds and thousands give up 
the grace of God rather than give up those dar¬ 
ling dollars they have unjustly acquired ! It is 
this obligation to restore or give back what is 
wrongfully taken which makes the sin of theft 
so dangerous to our salvation. Other sins are 
forgiven when we are truly sorry and determined 
to commit them no more : but this is not enough 
when something has been stolen. If it be a thing 
of notable value, it must be given back when 
one has the ability to do so. Of course, so long 
as one has not the means it cannot be done, and 
God does not require an impossibility ; but as 
soon as one has the means the obligation revives. 

In this way a sin of theft may be hanging 
over one’s head the greater part of a life-time, 
causing immense uneasiness and trouble of con¬ 
science. Old men and women are often laden 
with the dishonesty of their youth. They have 
not been able to make restitution, or they have 
neglected to do so when they were, and now 
they see no prospect of ever doing it. They 
fear to appear before God while it is undone. 

How much better, then, to keep one’s con¬ 
science entirely clear, that we may say at once : 
“As for dishonesty, I am entirely set against 
it, and would not for the world touch a penny’s 
worth of anything not my own.’’ 



Advantages of Honesty. 


197 


Do you know what comparison has often been 
in my mind when a girl accuses herself of tak¬ 
ing little things? I think of a rotten apple. 
No matter how small a speck of rottenness there 
is in an apple, it destroys its value. That 
speck is sure to spread, soundness no longer be¬ 
longs to that apple. 

So the heart which displeases God by pilfer¬ 
ing is specked ; it is sound no longer. It is not 
that true heart it ought to be, and most likely 
that unsoundness or rottenness will spread until 
the whole heart becomes corrupt. On the con¬ 
trary, how beautiful it is to observe justice in 
one’s dealings, to be perfectly reliable at all 
times and under all circumstances. It makes 
up for a great many other faults. 


CHAPTER LIV. 

ADVANTAGES OF HONESTY. 

H OW often ladies, in talking about their ser¬ 
vants, will go over a list of faults, and 
wind up by saying : “ But, after all, she is as 
honest as the day. I have never had reason to 
suspect anything in the shape of stealing or pil¬ 
fering.” And all who listen get a favorable 
opinion. 

This is expressed well in the old familiar 




98 


Advantages of Honesty. 


maxim: “ Honesty is the best policy.” One 
may acquire some little gain by cheating or 
stealing, for a short while, but in the long run 
he will gain a great deal more by strict honesty. 
So girls will get better places and better wages 
as soon as they have an established character 
for being strictly honest. 

These, however, are only considerations of 
this world; there are vastly more important 
ones; the approval of God in heaven ; the testi¬ 
mony of a good conscience. What kind of a 
conscience can a thief or a pilferer have ? A 
very bad one, and a very uneasy one. And 
this uneasy conscience destroys peace, and when 
peace departs, ill-temper and peevishness set in. 
One cannot say his prayers with satisfaction. 
It is all down-hill with good resolutions and 
piety. 

Could we only see how much we stand in 
our own light by this vice, I am sure we should 
detest it from the bottom of our hearts. And, 
after all, what is gained? A small sum of 
money, a trifling article of dress or ornament, 
something to eat or drink, which gives no satis¬ 
faction when we have it. It is the devil who 
cheats and deludes us under false pretences, that 
he may hold us in a most miserable and galling 
slavery. 

On the other hand, what a blessed satisfac¬ 
tion the just man, the man who respects his 



Advantages of Honesty. 


l 99 


neighbor’s goods out of love to God, enjoys! 
The Scripture describes it: “ Lord, who shall 
dwell in Thy tabernacle, and rest in Thy holy 
mountain ? He that walketh without blemish 
and worketh justice” (Ps. xiv. i). Again, it 
is said in another psalm: * ‘ Who shall ascend 
into the mountain of the Lord? or who shall 
stand in His holy place?” The answer is: 
‘ ‘ The innocent in hands and clean of heart ’ ’ 
(Ps. xxiii. 4). Yes, those whose hearts are set 
to do right, and whose hands are innocent of all 
picking and stealing. 

If we desire an example from Holy Scripture 
to show how dear to God the man is who is set 
against all dishonesty, we have the instance of 
Zaccheus the Publican. When he fell at the 
Saviour’s feet and exclaimed : “ Lord, if I have 
done any man wrong I return him fourfold,” 
the Saviour immediately replied : ‘ ‘ This day is 
salvation come to this house” (St. Luke xix. 
8 . 9 )- 

What speech more consoling and delightful 
than this could mortal man desire to hear from 
the lips of the Lord of eternal glory ! Set not, 
then, your hearts on riches at all. Be content 
with your living, and God, who clothes the lilies 
of the field, will see that you have food and 
clothing. You can earn your honest wages, 
and be satisfied with them. They will and 
must suffice for all your desires. In short, be 



200 


Different Kinds of Dishonesty. 


poor in spirit, that is, according to the explana¬ 
tion in the Bible, humble, and not set upon 
riches, but upon pleasing God, and yours will 
be the kingdom of heaven. 

Why, the very first words of our Saviour in 
His Sermon on the Mount are these: ‘ ‘ And 
opening His mouth, He taught them, saying : 
‘ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the 
kingdom of heaven’ ” (St. Matt. v. iii). Re¬ 
member these words as long as you live, and 
carry them out in your life. 


CHAPTER EV. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISHONESTY.—WASTE¬ 
FULNESS. 

O NE sort of dishonesty is wastefulness, which 
consists in a want of consideration for the 
property committed to one’s charge. Such 
waste may amount in value to very large sums 
of money in the long run. Many a family 
has been brought to ruin through a wasteful 
kitchen. 

Suppose you know the place where small 
change, sixpences and five-cent pieces, are kept, 
and every little while you go there and take a 
handful to toss among the dirt; you can easily 




Different Kinds of Dishonesty. 


201 


imagine what a havoc you would make with the 
income of the family. 

Well, what is the difference, when you fre¬ 
quently destroy a shilling’s worth of butter, or 
five cents’ worth of tea or sugar; when you spoil 
a batch of bread by your negligence, allow milk 
and meat to spoil, or throw away victuals which 
can readily be put to a good use ? Is not this 
scattering money right and left ? 

You have no right to do so. You are bound 
to take as much care of the things entrusted to 
you as if they were your own, and even more. 
If they were your own, you might have more 
liberty to dispose of them ; but as it is, you are 
bound by justice towards those whom you have 
engaged to serve, and who recompense you for 
taking that care. 

And whether they be rich or whether they be 
poor, does not alter the obligation. If it be a 
company, a corporation, or the government 
whom you serve, its property must be none the 
less sacred in your hands. It is the devil who 
puts it into your mind that it is of no conse¬ 
quence in such cases. He says: “Oh! never 
mind; you need not be so particular, they are 
rich; a little more or a little less is nothing to 
them.” The Blessed Saviour never thought of 
making any such exception. He expects faith¬ 
fulness from you in all cases. You are His 
stewards ; all that is entrusted to your care He 



202 


Wastefulness. 


regards as His own, no matter who the owner 
may be. And if He sees that you look at it in 
that light you will be very dear to Him. 

Of St. Zita it is said, that although she was 
so engrossed with prayer, and thinking of God 
and heavenly things, she never neglected a 
duty, never suffered anything to go to waste by 
her negligence. 

You remember that beautiful parable of the 
Lord’s, about the servants coming to give ac¬ 
count of what they had done with their lord’s 
talents entrusted to them. One, with ten talents, 
had gained ten others. One, with five, had 
gained five others. They were rewarded abun¬ 
dantly. Then came the one who had hid his 
lord’s talent in the ground, and he was pun¬ 
ished. So it is with servants. Some make 
good use of all that comes in their hands. They 
shall be rewarded. Others are wasteful, extrava¬ 
gant, destructive. They shall be punished by 
the Lord. For we are to do service as to the 
Lord, and not as man-pleasers. 

Be not, then, eye-servants, doing your duty 
when your employer’s eye is upon you ; but re¬ 
member that the Lord’s eye sees you. Take 
care, take pains, use all the discretion and judg¬ 
ment God has given you ; for it is not merely 
the hands, but the head also, which you must 
use in your daily tasks. Be in all respects like 
a prudent and careful owner in regard to his 



Dishonesty on the Pretext of Charity. 203 


own property, and look to the Lord for your 
recompense. In this way you shall not fail 
in the great day to reap an abundant recompense, 
according to the Lord’s promise* “ Inasmuch 
as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye 
have done it unto me ” (St. Matt. xxv. 40). 


CHAPTER LVI. 

DISHONESTY ON THE PRETEXT OF CHARITY. 

T HERE are various ways of taking another’s 
property to one’s own use, that have a 
kind of blind or cover over them which tends 
to conceal their real guilt. The devil is always 
ready to bring these excuses to mind. 

One is : “ Oh ! I have only given away to 
poor people something that wouldn’t amount to 
much : a few grains of sugar, or a little tea ; a 
lump of butter, or some victuals that wouldn’t 
be missed ; a few old clothes, a worn-out table¬ 
cloth, or some half-worn towels, and so on.” 

This covers a good deal. I dare say you 
have heard of smuggling—that is, secretly get¬ 
ting goods from other countries without paying 
the duties, and so selling them cheap. Large 
fortunes are sometimes made in this way. The 
practice of smuggling away goods out of the 
house you live in, perhaps to a mother, a sister, 




204 Dishonesty on the Pretext of Charity . 


or a neighbor, covers often a brisk trade, which 
if it were all summed up would make a large 
amount. 

It goes on quietly but continually. It is 
like the circle made by a stone thrown in the 
water, that enlarges all the while. It is petty 
thieving, and deserves no better name. It may 
wear the cloak of charity, but it is not the less 
stealing. If one makes himself master of an¬ 
other’s goods without his consent, he steals; 
it makes no difference whether he keeps them 
for his own use or gives them away. 

Objects of real charity may present them¬ 
selves ; they may beg you to help them ; they 
may ask for this or that which they see you 
have in charge ; but you should never let them 
have anything unless you first go and get the 
authority of the owner. It is a temptation, I 
know, for a poor girl who has a widowed 
mother or sister to help, when she sees plenty 
around her that will be so acceptable to them, 
and will not be missed; but it is a temptation 
of the enemy of souls, a very great snare for her 
ruin. Turn a deaf ear to all such temptations. 

Turn a deaf ear to every so-called friend who 
tries to coax or flatter you, or to work on your 
kind feelings, to make you fall into this snare. 
Say: “Not a penny’s worth will I give 
away.” 

Do as St. Zita did. A more benevolent, 



Dishonesty on the Pretext of Charity. 205 


kind-hearted creature than she was could not 
be; she never refused any poor person, but 
mind you, it was not at her master’s expense. 
She saved her own wages. She denied herself 
many a thing to eat, many a thing to wear, and 
gave that to the poor. 

Oh, how pleasing such charity is to God ! It 
observes the everlasting precepts of justice out 
of regard and respect to Him, and relieves the 
poor of Christ at the same time. 

But the other kind of charity is no charity at 
all. It is robbing your own souls to give to 
others’ bodies. It is outraging and offending 
God on the pretence of doing Him service. 

Make it then your rule, and keep to it, to 
give away nothing that you do not own your¬ 
self, or which you are not clearly authorized to 
give away. So will you avoid a world of 
trouble and a disturbed and doubtful con¬ 
science. 



CHAPTER EVIL 


DISHONESTY ARISING FROM GLUTTONY. 

S OMETIMES a sort of dishonesty arises from 
gluttony, from too great desire to enjoy ex¬ 
pensive and delicate food. One is not satisfied 
with ordinary fare, but is all the time looking 
out for this or that which they fancy will gratify 
their palate. This leads them to take those 
things they have no sort of right to, such as 
cakes, sweetmeats, wines, or liquors. 

Many families, who have such things, can¬ 
not afford to make them common. They keep 
them in places under their own control, and for 
extraordinary occasions. Even the children of 
the house have no use of them, except by per¬ 
mission. Now, it is, of course, entirely wrong 
secretly to get hold of and consume such 
things. 

The fact that they are not taken out of the 
house or given away, but eaten or drunk at 
home, does not make it less a robbery ; for it is 
well understood that they are entirely removed 
from your control. 

You might as well take money or other things 
as to take these. And if it be in the houses 
of the wealthy that these delicacies or expen- 

206 


Dishonesty arising from Gluttony . 207 


sive things are reserved, it makes no difference ; 
they are as much out of your reach as if in an¬ 
other’s house. 

You are entitled to good, wholesome food, 
and in sufficient quantity to keep up full health 
and strength. When you have this, you ought 
to be contented. 

I believe domestics in this country have in 
general very little to complain of in this respect. 
They share in pretty much all that is in use in 
the family, and have a diet good enough for 
any one. If here and there an exception is 
made and something is kept back, it is only 
reasonable it should be so. 

But it is really too bad when a girl is always 
complaining of her food, wanting to cook some¬ 
thing for herself different from that which is in 
use in the family, and so making a deal of 
trouble and vexation. 

On Fridays, in Protestant families, there may 
be room for exception where nothing but meat 
is provided ; but even here it is more edifying 
and more Catholic, if we cannot readily provide 
something special or one is refused permission 
to do so, to get along with bread and butter, or 
vegetables, or some such substantial food, than 
to make a great matter of it. 

I like very much the remark of an author, 
who says that domestics should accustom them¬ 
selves to a very plain and simple diet, and that 



208 Dishonesty arising from Gluttony . 


even if they live in places where the food is deli¬ 
cate and rich, they should avoid allowing them¬ 
selves to set much store by it. It may very 
well happen that after living on rich food for 
some time they may be disgusted at having to 
take up with what is plainer and more suitable. 

Plain diet is best for every one. It is hurtful 
for kings, queens, rich and noble, to gratify the 
palate. It ruins health and it ruins peace of 
mind. We cannot be servants of Jesus Christ 
and of the belly at the same time. 

Nothing destroys the delight of the soul in 
heavenly things more quickly than this love of 
eating and drinking. So the Saviour says: 
“Take heed to ourselves lest perhaps your 
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (i.e. y 
over-eating) and drunkenness, and the cares of 
this life and that day come upon you suddenly ’ ’ 
(St. Luke xxi. 34). 

You remember, I dare say, the parable of the 
rich man and the poor beggar who sat at his 
gate. Now, all that is said of the rich man is 
that his thoughts and time were taken up in 
feasting and living sumptuously. It is not said 
that he committed other crimes, yet when he 
died his soul went into hell. No doubt he was 
guilty of deadly sins, but they are not men¬ 
tioned, because they grew out of his love of 
pleasure, which was the root of them and caused 
his damnation. 



Dishonesty arising from Gluttony . 209 


Oh, then, avoid this sin ! According to the 
Gospel rule, having food and raiment, having 
sufficient for your health and strength, be con¬ 
tented with it; desire nothing more, and be 
careful not to set your heart on more, if it come 
in your way. 

Imitate the example of so many of the holy 
men and women whom the Church has canon¬ 
ized. Of Blessed Sebastian of Apparizio it is 
related, that when the daughter of his employer 
used to make cake and pies to present to him, 
he would never eat them. He said such kind 
of food was not suitable for a farm-servant, but 
not knowing how to refuse without giving of¬ 
fence, and at a loss what to do with them, he 
gave them to the cows and horses. Many of 
the saints would rather do this than pamper 
their own appetites with delicate food. 

How poor and plain has been the diet of 
many a high-born lady, whose heart has been 
pierced with the desire to live for God and His 
love alone ! Of St. Frances of Rome, we read 
that from a very early age she practised very 
great abstinence in regard to food. Nothing 
but water was ever drank by her. She ate no 
meat, eggs, or any sweet things, but simply 
boiled vegetables and bread. After her mar¬ 
riage to one of the richest and noblest men of 
Rome, when she had to sit at the head of a 
splendid table with every luxury upon it, she 



2io Dishonesty arising from Gluttony . 


carried out the same mode of life; but so quietly 
and modestly that very few noticed her, or, if 
they did, thought it owing to her peculiar state 
of health. 

Of another holy woman, Anne of Montmo¬ 
rency, of one of the best families of France, we 
know that for a long time she lived on what she 
could beg at the church-door from day to day; 
then on a little bread and water which she got 
twice a week by begging; and at last on the 
wild fruits and vegetables she collected in the 
woods. How such examples ought to shame 
us, who think so much on our stomachs and so 
little on the good of our souls ! 

To sum up, then : be perfectly satisfied with 
a good and sufficient diet, no matter how plain 
it may be ; and for the love of God not lay dis¬ 
honest hands on anything eatable or drinkable 
out of a spirit of gluttony. 



CHAPTER EVIII. 


DISHONESTY ON THE PRETEXT OF INSUFFI¬ 
CIENT WAGES. 

TAO not let the devil delude you with another 
U false pretence. He may say to you that 
you do not get enough wages; that other girls 
are getting more, who do not work more than 
you do, and that you are justified in helping 
yourself, if you can, to what will make up the 
difference. 

Or, he may whisper in your ear that your 
work is harder than usual, or that you work a 
longer time than other girls, and that you 
should have something for it; and that you 
might as well take something when you see 
your chance. 

Now, all these are truly devilish suggestions. 
Take the wages you have agreed to serve for 
and be satisfied. It may be a little more or a 
little less, but it is what you agreed for. 

A bargain is a bargain. When you make a 
bargain and benefit by it, you are glad enough 
to get that benefit; and others think as you do 
when they make a close bargain. You have no 
right to make a bargain unless you intend to 

hold to it. If you have not been aware of all 
211 


212 


Pretext of Insufficient Wages . 


the facts of the case, try to make a better bar¬ 
gain ; and if you do not succeed, then you are 
at liberty, after due notice, to go somewhere 
else.. 

It is a wide door of sin to undertake to re¬ 
compense yourself on any plea of low wages or 
extra work. If such excuses were once allowed 
there would be no such thing as putting confi¬ 
dence in any agreement. 

The merchant would cheat, delivering not 
what he agreed to, but what he pleases. The 
tailor would cheat in his clothing, putting in 
worse material and work than he agreed upon, 
and pocketing the difference. He would say : 

‘ ‘ Oh ! I give them pretty nigh the worth of their 
money, and that is all that can be expected of 
me.” The carpenter and the mason would do 
just as they pleased. “Oh! the material I 
put in is not what I agreed to, but it is good 
enough; I don’t make any more than I ought 
to.” The milliner and the dressmaker would 
cheat. The world would be filled with deceit 
and fraud of the basest and meanest kind. The 
dishonest thief would carry on his thieving 
operations under the cloak of a saint: “Oh! I 
do no wrong; I am entitled in justice to all I 
have taken.” 

God in Heaven cannot abide such practices. 
Listen to what St. John the Baptist has 
preached on the subject: “He said therefore to 





Pretext of Insufficient Wages. 


213 


the multitudes that came to be baptized by him: 
Ye offspring of vipers, who has showed you to 
flee from the wrath to come ? Bring forth, then, 
fruit worthy of penance.” And the people 
asked him, What shall we do? He replied 
and told them what to do. Then the publicans 
asked him the same question. He told them 
also. But when the soldiers asked, What shall 
we do ? He replied: ‘‘Do violence to no man, 
neither calumniate any man”; and remark 
well what else : ‘ ‘ Be content with your pay ’ ’ 
(St. Duke iii. 14); that is, do not plunder and 
steal on the plea of having too little pay. The 
soldiers are here threatened with the wrath of 
God if they should undertake to increase their 
gains beyond the wages they had agreed upon. 

In the same way the wrath of God will fall on 
the person in these days who increases his pay 
by secret means. Such suggestions are like 
false teachers, “wolves in sheeps’ clothing.” 
They are ravening wolves, never satisfied, but 
attacking one thing after another, until they 
have devoured every bit of goodness and virtue 
in you. Wherever you may be employed or 
whatever your work may be resist, then, with 
fortitude every such temptation. 

If money passes through your hands in buy¬ 
ing or selling, use no fraud or deceit about the 
price, but give back every cent of change. Sell 
nothing out of the house, nothing whatever, no 



214 


Co-operation in Dishonesty. 


matter what others may do or say. Accept no 
presents or bribes from storekeepers, or any one 
else, to cover up any dishonest transaction. 
Come down, completely and simply, to your pay, 
and be content therewith, that you may flee 
from the wrath to come, and commend your¬ 
selves as truly honest servants in whom there is 
no guile. 


CHAPTER EIX. 


CO-OPERATION IN DISHONESTY. 

HERE is another snare to be avoided which 



* is sometimes very dangerous. It arises 
from the sins of others. You have associates 
who are dishonest, and who want to make use 
of you to carry on their designs. If they do 
not want this, they at least want to get you 
mixed up in the same kind of business so that 
they may not be told of, or because an unquiet 
conscience gets some consolation in the thought 
that others are as bad as themselves. 

No matter what the motive may be that leads 
them to drag you into their dishonesty, have 
nothing whatever to do with it. 

But suppose it is a person who has the confi¬ 
dence of the head of the establishment, who 
carries things as he pleases, and he or she 
threatens to get you turned out if you do not 




Co-operation in Dishonesty . 


215 


do as they wish you. Never mind; suffer 
yourselves to be turned out of the place, but do 
not steal. 

Even if it be a child in the family, a brother 
or a sister of your employer, or a fellow-clerk, 
have nothing to do with their wickedness. If 
it be a partner in any business in which you are 
employed who is stealing from his partner, and 
who threatens or coaxes you, give no heed to 
him. 

Even if you are threatened with being accused 
of stealing yourself, or with having slanderous 
stories set afloat about you by wicked persons, 
out of spite and malice, do not be moved an inch 
from the right course. Have nothing to do with 
their wickedness. 

God will reward you for all you have to suf¬ 
fer. He will make the right appear in good 
time, and all your sufferings will be rich crowns 
of merit for you. “ Blessed are you when men 
revile you and persecute you falsely for My sake, 
and for justice’ sake. Rejoice and be exceed¬ 
ing glad, for great shall be your reward in 
heaven” (St. Matt. v. 11). 

The question may be asked : ” If I know of 
another’s stealing and I have nothing to do 
with it myself, am I obliged to make it known ? 
It is a thing I should not like to do, for nothing 
seems meaner than to be telling of others.” 

We cannot always do just what we like; we 



216 


Co-operation in Dishonesty. 


must do what the law of God requires. As St. 
Paul says : “ But as for me it is a thing of the 
least account to be judged by you or by human 
judgment, . . . but He that judgeth me is 

the IyOrd” (i Cor. iv. 3). 

In truth, there is nothing mean, nothing dis¬ 
honorable in informing when wickedness is go¬ 
ing on, and your information will stop it. It 
requires courage, it is true, but that makes it 
the more noble and more full of merit. 

In most cases you are bound, through many 
motives, to give information. 

It is your duty to your employers, a duty of 
charity and often of justice. If you are in 
charge of certain things and responsible for 
their safe-keeping, and allow them to be taken, 
you would be bound in justice to take means to 
prevent their being stolen ; and if you did not, 
you would be under obligation to make good 
the loss. 

If you are not in such a position, it is a duty 
of charity, at least, to inform and prevent the 
evil from going on. You are, for the time be¬ 
ing, a member of the family; and can you be¬ 
lieve that you can fold your arms and let rol> 
bery go on without trying to prevent it ? The 
very idea is monstrous; it is contrary to the 
first principles of conscience. 

Then it is a duty you owe yourself. If you 
do not inform, you run a great risk of losing 



Co-operation in Dishonesty. 


21 7 


your own character. When it is discovered, as 
it will very likely be, and it is known that you 
were aware of it and did not tell, you will be al¬ 
most sure to be considered as an accomplice in 
the crime. Your character is valuable to you, 
and it is your duty to preserve it, and you have 
no right to expose it to so great a risk of being 
lost. 

Charity to innocent persons who may be un¬ 
justly suspected or accused requires that the 
real offender be known. 

And finally, it is a charity to the dishonest 
persons. It is far better for them to be found 
out and punished than to be allowed to go on 
hardening themselves and increasing in guilt all 
the while. The rule is, then, in spite of all 
your dislike, to do your duty and reveal their sin. 

Are there no exceptions to this rule? Un¬ 
doubtedly there are. Uet us see what they are. 

If they should be violent persons, of a slan¬ 
derous tongue and willing to do you mischief 
in revenge for telling of them, would that ex¬ 
cuse you ? I think not. As I said before, 
your reputation is in the hands of God, who 
will see to it that all turns out well for you. 
They will not hurt you. You will come out of 
such trials like gold purified in the fire, very 
lovely in the eyes of men for your solid virtue, 
and in God’s all-seeing eye for your faithful¬ 
ness to Him, though at the cost of some suffer- 



218 Practical Directions in this Matter. 


ing. But suppose your information will do no 
good, but only get yourself into trouble? In 
that case you are not under any obligation to 
reveal. 

The guilty persons may be so much in the 
confidence of the employer as to be able to 
throw suspicion off themselves on you and in¬ 
jure you seriously. No obligation of charity to 
others can outweigh that of justice to yourself 
and your own reputation. It is well in such 
case to get prudent advice and act upon it. 


CHAPTER EX. 

PRACTICAL, DIRECTIONS IN THIS MATTER. 

ATOW, how ought you to proceed in case you 
I* have to inform your employers of the 
thefts of others? That depends a good deal 
on their characters and dispositions. If they be 
prudent persons, whom you could rely on to 
treat the guilty parties with mercy and justice, 
to keep the information secret, and screen you 
from being known to have exposed the matter, 
tell them at once and let them take their mea¬ 
sures. But a great many employers are not of 
this character. They are hasty and violent and 
inconsiderate of others. In that case you must 
use precautions. 




Practical Directions in this Matter . 219 


1 st. Confine yourself at first to making 
known the bare fact of the theft. Say that 
such or such a thing has disappeared, that you 
have remarked that things have disappeared 
from time to time, or that at least they were 
there at such a time and you have missed them 
since; that you had thought it your duty to 
warn them in order that they might take means 
accordingly. 

2d. If your employers ask you the proofs of 
what you say, give them, but keep back, if you 
can, the name of the guilty party. If that is 
impossible, give the name, but with pity and 
compassion for her or them, and begging that 
they may be treated with indulgence. 

3d. Ask that they will find out for themselves 
and not take things on your word. Say you 
are willing to be watched as well as the rest; 
that you only wished to put them on their 
guard and leave the rest to them. 

4th. If they desire to put you in the position 
of spying out and collecting evidence against 
the suspected person, refuse any such office; at 
least, unless the nature of your service obliges 
you to it. This is the only case in which it is 
your duty to act as a spy on others, and it is 
only duty that should be powerful enough to 
make you do any such thing. In your posi¬ 
tion, too, you can hardly keep yourself disinte¬ 
rested and peaceable and calm enough to un- 



220 Practical Directions in this Matter. 


dertake such a thing ; and your employers will, 
if they are reasonable, not insist upon it, but 
rather admire your conduct in declining it. 
Ask that what you have told may be kept se¬ 
cret, for you do not wish to be exposed to the 
enmity and persecution that would fall upon 
you if it were known that you had given infor¬ 
mation about the matter. 

Good sense and prudence point out some 
such rules, in case you are bound in conscience 
to give information; and good sense and pru¬ 
dence will teach even the most ignorant how to 
proceed. 

A poor old negro man came to a priest not 
long ago. “ Father,” says he, “ I want you to 
advise me. You told me when I saw anything 
going to loss to tell.massa. Now, the other day 
I saw something going to loss. I didn’t want 
to tell of anybody ; but my conscience told me I 
ought to tell massa something was going to 
loss. So, says I, Massa, when you go around 
the farm and come to such a place, you just 
keep your eye skinned, and see if you don’t see 
something going to loss. So massa, he look out 
bright, and see what was going on, and he 
hauled ’em up for it. 

“ Then they comes to me and ? cuses me of 
telling of ’em. And I says, I didn’t tell of any¬ 
thing. Now, did I do right? ” 

What a wonderful prudence and charity this 



On Spying and Listening. 


221 


simple old man showed! Try and follow his ex¬ 
ample. 

Do not run, neither, to inform in an excess of 
zeal, when the matter is very trifling and when 
also you have a mere suspicion without positive 
proof. You have charity to your fellow-servants 
to exercise as well as charity to your employers. 
Guard against all malice and spite, and purify 
your motives so that it may be a pure con¬ 
science that actuates you, and that all may be 
done for God and for God alone. 


CHAPTER EXI. 

ON SPYING AND LISTENING. 

I T is not merely a thing of the utmost impor¬ 
tance to be faithful in respect to the property 
of your employers, but also in regard to their 
character and reputation. In order to do this, 
in the first place, you must be on your guard 
against idle curiosity and keep your mind from 
desiring to know their secret affairs, as well as 
your eyes and ears from spying them out or 
listening to them. 

It is not merely improper and unbecoming to 
do so, but it is a sin. Their private and family 
affairs are their own. They expect no one to 
meddle with them. It is the same thing with 




222 


On Spying and Listening. 


regard to conversation with their friends and 
acquaintances, the letters they write, and so on. 
They would feel offended if they knew that you 
were curious enough even to pay attention to 
such things ; and much more, if they knew you 
had taken any means to spy them out. It 
stands to reason, then, that it is wrong to do so; 
and I know it is against the voice of your con¬ 
science, which warns you that you have no busi¬ 
ness with such things. 

Scripture tells us the same thing in the 
strongest language. St. Paul says: “For we 
have heard that there are some among you who 
walk disorderly, working not at all, but cu¬ 
riously meddling. Now we charge them that 
are such, and beseech them by the Ford Jesus 
Christ, that working with silence they would eat 
their own bread ” (2 Thess. iii. 11, 12). 

It is no wonder the holy Apostle begs and 
entreats, for where there is this vain itching 
spirit of prying into other people’s business 
there can be little piety. When one is taken up 
with affairs of this world which are none of his 
business, what time or heart can he have for 
the great affair of his salvation? When his 
head is full of the most useless and hurtful trash 
of other people’s, what room is there for the 
quiet and peaceable spirit of God ? The ‘ ‘ eyes 
of a fool are in the ends of the earth,” says the 
Holy Scripture (Prov. xvii. 24). 



On Spying and Listening. 


223 


This vain, idle spirit of curiosity leads to nu¬ 
merous sins. It leads to idle gossip ; it leads to 
detraction ; it leads to quarrels and dissension ; 
it leads straight to the ruin of the soul, as it led 
our first mother, Eve, as we all know, to eat the 
forbidden fruit. Do not follow, then, your first 
mother Eve’s example, but put away all this 
itching curiosity. 

When you go upstairs to sweep lay no cu¬ 
rious eyes on anything which seems to contain 
a secret. Pry into no drawers or closets that 
are kept closed. Take no inventories of articles 
which you have no concern with. When letters 
are lying about do not read them. If they are 
open before you, rather tear out your eyes than 
do the mean, low-lived trick of reading them. 

Do not creep up, like a guilty thief, to listen 
behind doors when conversation is going on. 
And, more than this, if you are where you can 
overhear anything private, go away or make 
some noise which will give warning of your 
presence, so that such conversation may be con¬ 
ducted more privately. 

Do as you would do if you were where you 
were likely to overhear a secret of the sacred 
tribunal of Confession. Stop your ears to all 
such things; pay no attention to them when 
they are overheard. Have no time for such 
things, as the Apostle admonishes: “But we 
entreat you, brethren, that you abound more 




224 


Obligation of Secrecy. 


and that you use your endeavors to be quiet and 
to mind your own business, and work with your 
hands as we have commanded you, and that 
you want nothing of any man’s” (i Thess. iv. 
io, n). 

So will your time and all your mind be clear 
and free to abound more and more in the science 
and knowledge of Jesus Christ, who is a well of 
knowledge and of love and goodness sufficient 
to occupy all your thoughts and satisfy all your 
desires. Ah ! this is the curiosity, this is the 
study which has no limit, which has nothing 
but what is lovely and pure and good in it. 


CHAPTER EXII. 

OBLIGATION OF SECRECY. 

^pHIS vain curiosity about the affairs of your 
employers leads by a short way to another 
very great evil, and that is, to revealing and 
making known to people abroad those things 
which ought to be kept in the house. A per¬ 
son curious enough to want to find out such 
things will prove a leaky vessel. She will not 
rest until she has talked it over with her friends 
and acquaintances. Everything that goes on in 
the house will be made a subject of discussion. 
The conduct of the mistress towards her hus¬ 
band, or his towards her; the conversations be- 




Obligation of Secrecy . 


225 


tween them or other members of the family at 
the table ; what persons have visited the house, 
and what was overheard of their conversation ; 
the money-affairs, courtships, spats and quar¬ 
rels of the family, will all be retailed, like so 
many choice morsels, for the amusement of 
one’s self and friends. 

It may be sins or faults of character will be 
spread about, dressed up in such a way that 
they have quite a different look from the reali¬ 
ty. As Scripture says: “And without being 
idle, they learn to go about from house to 
house; not only idle, but tattlers also, and in¬ 
quisitive, speaking things they ought not ’ ’ 
(1 Tim. v. 13). 

All this is wrong; it is a violation of that 
agreement which must always exist between 
employers and their dependents. When you 
entered their house they committed to you, of 
course and of necessity, many things relating 
to their private lives, and it was understood 
that these things were sacred ; not to go out of 
the house; to be buried in silence. 

It was something like the agreement between 
the priest and his penitent. He says nothing 
about keeping what he hears secret, but it is as 
well understood as if he swore the most solemn 
oath. They said, perhaps, nothing about this 
duty not to repeat his advice or admonition, but 
it was as well understood as if they had. 



226 


Obligation of Secrecy. 


It is most necessary that it should be so. 
What mischiefs, what strifes, heart-burnings, 
suspicions, and sins are not stirred up by such 
conduct! Such things spread from mouth to 
mouth, until a whole town almost is involved in 
numberless sins of the tongue. Character is 
sometimes destroyed and life rendered a burden. 

As Holy Scripture says : ‘ ‘ The words of a 
tale-bearer are as wounds that penetrate to the 
inmost parts of the bowels” (Prov. xxvi. 22). 
Hear what the prophet says, speaking of differ¬ 
ent kinds of the wicked: ‘ ‘ Tale-bearers and 
slanderers have been among thee to shed blood, 
and they have committed wickedness in the 
midst of thee” (Ezech. xxii. 9). 

God abhors such conduct: ‘ ‘ Six things do 
I hate, and the seventh my soul abhorretli: 
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed 
innocent blood, a heart hatching evil thoughts, 
feet swift to run into mischief, false witnesses 
bringing out lies” (Prov. vi. 16). What is 
the seventh that God abominates? The one 
who sows strife among brethren. Who is that 
one ? The tale-bearer, the revealer of secrets. 
For, if this were to cease, strife and enmity 
would cease also. “When there is no tale¬ 
bearer strife ceaseth ” (Prov. xxvi. 20). 

But is it right, in any case, to reveal the sins 
or faults of those who employ you ? I11 answer 

to this question, I say that, although as a gene- 



Obligation of Secrecy. 


227 


ral rule it is not right, there are some excep¬ 
tions. Your own good or that of another may 
justify it sometimes. 

For example : If you have to leave certain 
employers on account of their misconduct or ill- 
usage, and your parents or relations, who have 
a right to know, inquire the reason, and you 
cannot conceal it without mischief, you could 
make known why you had to leave. 

Or, suppose another girl gets a position in 
a place where you have been working and 
which is a dangerous one for her; charity 
would require that she should be put upon her 
guard, and not allowed to run the risk of se¬ 
rious damage to her soul or her character. 

A great deal depends on circumstances. 
You should be careful not to reveal more than 
is necessary, and to take into account the 
character of the parties to whom you reveal it, 
whether they be prudent and discreet, or light¬ 
headed and rattle-brained persons. 

Necessity is the only plea for speaking at all, 
and necessity must put the exact limit to what 
you speak ; otherwise you will run the risk of 
doing great wrong and committing great sin. 

It is well to take advice of those competent 
to give it. Fay open the circumstances of the 
case, and abide by the advice given you. And, 
above all, lay the matter before God, and ask 
the Holy Ghost to guide you. 



228 


On Holy Purity. 


Purify your motive, and say over and over 
again to yourself that you will and intend to 
follow God’s holy will in the matter just as far 
as God shall enlighten you, and not depart a 
hair’s-breadth from it. 

In this way you will be sure not to fail. If 
you make a mistake, it will be no fault of yours, 
and you will have before God the same merit 
and the same reward as if you had made none, 
for God looks at the intention rather than at 
the success and result of what you do. 


CHAPTER EXIII. 

ON HOLY PURITY. 

W E now come to a subject of the highest im¬ 
portance as respects the eternal salvation 
of the soul—that is, modesty, or holy purity. 
St. Alphonsus remarks that the greater number 
by far of the souls that are lost are damned in 
consequence of sins against holy purity ; indeed, 
he says that all, probably, who come to their 
ruin do so, in some way, through this vice. 

The greatest saints, the most holy men and 
women, have never felt themselves secure 
against it while life was in their bodies ; but 
have trembled with fears lest they should fall at 
last; and have watched over themselves with 




On Holy Purity . 


229 


untiring vigilance to guard against any such 
fall. 

We are all of flesh and blood, all subject to 
temptation in this respect; and, therefore, it is 
most necessary for us all to be exceedingly 
watchful and full of prayer to God, lest we al¬ 
so fall. 

Even St. Paul, the Apostle, after unheard-of 
labors, and burning zeal, and wonderful prayer 
says he had to chastise and mortify his body, 
lest he should lose the fruit of his labor and be¬ 
come reprobate. O dear, precious souls, who 
really strive to love God ! bear this in mind ; be 
full of lively dread and horror of even the least 
immodesty. Regard it as a horrible monster, 
ready to devour you if you expose yourself in the 
least to its power. 

That was the way St. Aloysius considered it. 
When an immodest word was spoken at his 
father’s table by one of the guests he turned as 
pale as death and came near fainting. He was 
right; there was a danger to his immortal soul 
in that word greater than any other kind of 
danger. His soul trembled at it, as we would 
shrink and tremble at the roar of a lion were we 
alone in a dark forest. 

Why must we regard it in this light ? I will 
tell you. We are required by the law of God 
to be perfectly chaste and pure in thought, 
word, and deed. If we wilfully and deliberate- 



230 


On Holy Purity. 

ly consent to any impurity in these respects, we 
commit a grievous sin, and of course lose the 
grace of God. You see how strict the law of 
God is on one side. 

Now, on the other it is needless to say that 
we carry about with us an inclination to this 
vice, and it will be impossible not to yield in the 
time of temptation, unless we constantly strive 
against it. 

How easy, then, is it to commit such sins ! 
Truly, this vice must be regarded as a monster, 
with jaws wide open to destroy us. It is the 
very pit of hell which yawns wide at our feet, 
ready to swallow up those who do not watch 
their steps with the utmost precaution. 

Besides the danger of eternal ruin that at¬ 
tends this sin, it produces the most horrible de¬ 
struction of all virtue and goodness in the soul. 
St. Thomas of Villanova describes this well. 
He says: ‘ ‘ When this fire of lust possesses a 
man it leaves nothing unconsumed. Although 
he may in his youth have been adorned with the 
beauty of every virtue, and, like a paradise of 
God, shining with fragrant and blooming lilies, 
if once this fire penetrates within his heart, it 
burns, it consumes all, it reduces all to ashes, 
and changes him from an agreeable paradise to 
a horrid desert—from an angel to a beast.” 

There are some poisons which creep on, when 
they have once infected the smallest portion of 




On Holy Purity. 


231 


the body, until they leave not a single part of it 
untouched ; they corrupt and destroy until every 
limb, every organ becomes a loathsome mass of 
rottenness, so that one would wish himself dead 
rather than be in such a state. 

This is exactly what this horrid vice does to 
the soul. All goodness, all virtue, all love of 
God, all faith, hope, or charity, seem to be de¬ 
stroyed by it. As St. Gregory says: “From 
luxury are generated blindness of heart, incon¬ 
sideration, inconstancy, heedlessness, love of 
one’s self, hatred of God, supreme attachment 
to the present world, horror and desperation of 
the future.’’ 

Besides the loss of virtue there is a most fear¬ 
ful loss of peace and happiness. The peace and 
joy of the pure mind is beyond all description. 
It is a fountain of pure, living water, flowing 
from the heart and making everything around 
green and beautiful. 

Take a pure-minded young person; why, the 
very sight of the innocent mind shining through 
that modest countenance fills every one who 
looks upon it with delight. It is like Heaven 
beaming forth on this earth. There are many 
such poor boys and poor girls from Ireland 
whom you love the moment you speak with 
them, for their innocence and purity of heart. 
But how this horrid vice destroys all happiness 
as soon as it has once got entrance into the 



232 


On Holy Purity. 


heart! Where there was a paradise before, 
there is a hell now. All that peace of mind is 
gone, leaving distraction, confusion, and trouble 
to take its place. 

Misfortune, sickness, pain, could not have 
made any such change, but immodesty can; it 
can destroy all peace and love of God and joy in 
the soul, and leave nothing but sin and despair. 

It destroys oftentimes, also, one’s reputation 
or character, which is and ought to be dearer to 
us than any worldly goods. Who can live in 
this world with any pleasure when the finger of 
scorn is continually pointed at him? who re¬ 
flects that his disgrace is just, that by his own 
misconduct he has lost the right to the respect 
which virtuous persons possess. 

How often it has happened to happy, light¬ 
hearted young women, happy in the esteem and 
love of all around them, by yielding to the vice 
of impurity to lose all this and become a perfect 
byword and reproach, wretched and miserable, 
through the loss of that good name without 
which life is a burden ! 

Hold, then, this vice in entire abomination, 
and avoid it in every shape and every form. 
If you have unfortunately fallen into its power, 
rise up immediately from it and put it all away, 
even to the least remnant. In thought, word, and 
deed maintain entire purity. Apply every reme¬ 
dy to get yourself out of the power of this sin. 



CHAPTER EXIV. 


ON EVII. THOUGHTS. 

TN the first place, take care of evil thoughts or 
^ imaginations. Thoughts go before actions. 
If we did not first conceive evil in the mind, we 
should never commit it in deed. This is what 
the Scripture says: “ For from within, out of 
the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulte¬ 
ries, fornications, murders, etc. All these evil 
things come from within and defile a man ’ ’ 
(St. Matt. xv. 19, 20). 

We have no more right to indulge an evil im¬ 
agination or thought than to do an evil deed. 
As soon as we perceive, then, that our minds are 
dwelling upon a bad thought, we must promptly 
and firmly strive to drive it away, either by think¬ 
ing on something else, or by praying to be de¬ 
livered from it. For example, we may say: 
“ God help me ! ” “ Far be it from me to think 
of such a thing ” ; or, what is very good, we may- 
repeat devoutly the holy names of Jesus and 
Mary, or make the sign of the cross, that holy 
sign which recalls our hope of salvation and 
our dread of all that will hinder it. 

Many, very many I fear, have no proper idea 
of the sinfulness and danger of evil thoughts. 

233 


234 


On Evil Thoughts. 


They esteem them small matters. They are not 
small matters ; they are very great and very im¬ 
portant. I may say salvation depends upon 
them. 

We cannot be in the grace of God, we cannot 
have a hope of salvation, we cannot live peaceful 
or pious lives, unless we are set against all bad 
thoughts ; unless we are prepared to drive them 
from our minds as soon as we discover them. 

We cannot always hinder them from entering 
our minds, because our imaginations or fancies 
are not always in our power. They may enter 
in the twinkling of an eye. We may not even 
notice for a little while what we are thinking 
about; when, for example, we are perplexed or 
fatigued or absent-minded. In that case we do 
not sin because we do not consent to wrong ; but 
as soon as we do take notice and think, “ These 
are sinful imaginations; I must not indulge or 
take pleasure in them,” then we must do as I 
have just said, put them out at once. By behav¬ 
ing in this way, such evil thoughts can do us no 
harm ; on the contrary, they become a great oc¬ 
casion of merit. 

Many pious persons, who hate and detest 
every sin of impurity and every bad thought, are 
distressed and annoyed by such things coming 
in their minds in spite of themselves, and even 
imagine they have sinned by them. But as long 
as they hate and detest them, as long as they 



On Evil Thoughts . 


235 


strive to put them out, their anxiety is entirely 
ungrounded. We have an instance of this in 
the life of St. Catherine of Siena. Her soul 
was assailed by the most horrible temptations of 
the devil. They lasted a long time, but she re¬ 
sisted, and after the conflict was over our Saviour 
appeared to her with a serene countenance. ‘ ‘ O 
my Divine Spouse, ’ ’ she said, ‘ ‘ where wast Thou 
when I was enduring these conflicts ? ” “In thy 
soul,” He replied. “What! with all these 
filthy abominations?” “Yes, they were dis¬ 
pleasing to thee ; this, therefore, was thy merit, 
and thy victory was owing to My presence.” 

Do not endeavor to excuse such thoughts on 
any pretence whatever. Do not say they are 
natural ; do not think of such things on the idea 
that you will marry by and by, but simply put 
them all out and keep them out. When you 
have closed the door of your heart the enemy 
cannot find any entrance for evil. 



CHAPTER EXV. 


custody of thk FYFS. 

I F you will really guard your heart or your 
thoughts from evil, you must guard your eyes 
and your ears from seeing or hearing what is 
evil. The eyes are justly called the windows of 
the soul. Now, you know, if you stand gazing 
out of the windows you cannot help thinking of 
what you see; your mind will become filled with 
images and pictures of what your eyes behold. 
So, if you look on any impure sight to notice it, 
it will be sure to create evil thoughts in your 
mind. 

Perhaps if you had the best will in the world 
you could not entirely avoid every evil sight, 
because such things present themselves some¬ 
times suddenly to view; but in that case turn 
your eyes away immediately with horror, and no 
impression will be made on your mind. On the 
other hand, you can readily perceive that to 
dwell on any evil sight, even for a short time, 
would produce a considerable impression and be 
a very evil thing. 

For this reason Job, that saint of God, says 
he made a covenant with his eyes not so much 
as to look upon a woman. Oh ! what a virtue 

236 


Custody of the Eyes. 


23 7 


here is, to be so bent on pleasing our Maker as 
to turn away instantly, not only from every evil 
sight, but from every dangerous object that may 
meet our eyes! Such faithfulness renders us 
very dear to God. 

But in order to acquire this modesty of the 
eyes, it is necessary to restrain them from look¬ 
ing at everything that presents itself; to have 
it habitually at heart to keep down an idle curi¬ 
osity to see everything. Downcast eyes accom¬ 
pany the chaste spirit, and indicate an inward 
purity. 

Women of true modesty do not gaze here and 
there fixedly as they walk the streets, but look 
around, if at all, with a great deal of reserve. 

It is, indeed, a hateful and repulsive sight to 
see the airs of a vain or bold woman. Her 
whole soul shows itself in her dress, and walk, 
and eyes, as she goes along, sweeping the streets 
with her train, with a toss of her head and an 
affected walk, and her eyes gazingboldly about. 
Who feels anything but sorrow at the sight ? 
sorrow that an immortal soul should be so per¬ 
verted from the intention God had in creating 
it; sorrow at the spiritual ruin betokened; sor¬ 
row that a human being can become so debased. 
Could such persons see the hearts of those who 
look at them and read each secret thought re¬ 
garding them, they would soon learn to despise 
themselves and to change their demeanor. 



238 


Custody of the Eyes. 


What looks well in a turkey or a peacock, an 
irrational dumb beast, looks very ugly and unbe¬ 
coming in a woman with an immortal soul. Be 
careful, then, of your eyes, how you allow them 
to gaze about. 

St. Francis of Assisi once .said to a brother: 
“ Come, brother, let us go out into the city and 
preach the Gospel.” So they went out and 
walked about a good while, and at last came 
back to the house without either of them speak¬ 
ing a word. On entering the house again the 
brother said: “ Father Francis, I thought you 
said we were going out to preach, but here we 
are again without having opened our mouths.” 
“Brother,” says he, “ we have preached a most 
eloquent sermon to all who observed us, by the 
modest and recollected way in which we have 
walked the streets of the town.” 

By the habit of modestly avoiding curious and 
fixed gazing in the streets, or out of windows in 
public places, you will avoid a thousand sights 
which would be dangerous to your souls, al¬ 
though you had no bad intention whatever in 
such gazing. 



CHAPTER EXVI. 


OF EVIL CONVERSATIONS. 

EE that has been said in regard to watching 



carefully the eyes applies as well to the 
ears and the tongue. There is a vast amount 
of talk, which we may flatter ourselves is inno¬ 
cent, but which is extremely hurtful to the soul. 
To speak sometimes of beaux and getting mar¬ 
ried is, I suppose, unavoidable, and need not have 
any harm in it; but it would seem that girls can 
hardly get together without their conversation 
being entirely taken up with these things. If 
they are ever so long with one another, or ever 
so often, it would seem that this one sub¬ 
ject never grows wearisome or gets worn 


out 


“ Well, what harm is there in that ? ’ ’ A great 
deal. If nothing worse, it fills the mind with 
matters too engrossing and enticing to leave us 
free for the service of God. It is like setting 
up an idol in our hearts and falling down to 
worship it, instead of the living and true God. 
If God condemns the love of riches as idolatry 
because it distracts and turns us aside from bet¬ 
ter things, much more must He condemn us for 
allowing earthly love to occupy and take up our 


240 


Of Evil Conversations . 


minds, since this is a passion still more danger¬ 
ous and powerful to steal our hearts away from 
Him. 

• Such conversations are likely to be hurtful 
and evil, even if they do not touch upon any¬ 
thing positively sinful, but how difficult it is to 
restrain them within bounds ! 

“The poison of asps,” says St. James, “is 
under their lips.” The asp was a most deadly 
serpent, but very small, and his bite not painful, 
so that the person bitten was taken off almost 
before he was aware of his wound. 

It is this conversation about marriage, this 
joking and merriment about beaux, which in¬ 
flicts deadly wounds on the innocent soul so 
silently and quietly that it is destroyed almost 
before it is aware of its danger. 

Keep your tongue from joining in such con¬ 
versations, and turn away your ears that they 
listen not, if you want to escape the infection and 
contagion which is all about. Imitate the con¬ 
duct of physicians who have to attend the sick 
in hospitals. They carry with them smelling- 
bottles, and the instant they perceive the evil 
odor of contagion they strive to counteract it by 
breathing the perfume. Turn the conversation 
to something else as cunningly as you can; if 
you cannot do that, take no part in it and do 
not listen to it, but lift up your souls in some 
short prayer to God to preserve you. Go away 



Of Evil Conversations . 


241 


as soon as you can, so as to be removed from all 
danger. 

The Holy Scripture says that for every “idle 
word ” we shall be called to judgment. Now, 
by “ idle words ” is meant, not innocent merri¬ 
ment and cheerful conversation which simply 
passes away time—for this has a good end, 
which is to unbend the mind, and prevent 
melancholy and sadness, and to promote good¬ 
feeling and kindness—but just this kind of talk, 
which seems not so very bad at first sight, but 
which has the sting and poison of hell in it. 

And how is this talk often described ? By 
such expressions as these : “ Oh, I have spoken 
a few pleasant words ”; or, “ some funny 
words”; or, “a little joking”; or, “a few 
double-meaning words.” What a fearful stupor 
of soul and deadness of conscience here is! 

“A few double-meaning words!” These 
double-meaning words are two-edged swords. 
If you saw a little baby toddling about with an 
open knife in his little hands, you would spring 
with alarm to take it away. Here is a soul in 
blindness and darkness carrying a sharp sword 
of destruction for its own ruin. 

Beware of double-meaning words against 
purity ; they are worse in some respects than 
more vulgar and coarse ones, for the last disgust 
and repel us, while the former make a deep im¬ 
pression on the mind by their wit, and rankle in 



242 


Of Evil Conversations. 


the heart, infecting it with filthy and unclean 
ideas. 

Show your displeasure plainly as soon as 
you perceive that another is aiming to insinuate 
anything improper under the cover of a double- 
meaning word. Sometimes a dead silence will 
be the best rebuke, or a sudden deafness may 
seize you. If the thing is repeated, you may 
show your displeasure more decidedly. There 
is generally some shame and sense of decency 
even in the most hardened ; and if such attempts 
are put down in the outset, it may prevent a great 
deal of trouble and sin afterwards, and be the 
means of making such people more careful how 
they expose their own vulgar and coarse minds 
to public gaze. The wicked are and must be 
abashed in the presence of virtue and purity. 

Keep, then, a guard on your eyes, your ears, 
your mouth, your hands, and all your senses, 
that you may be far from any occasion to sin 
against this holy virtue ; and God will give you 
great graces. 

Remember the admirable answer once made 
by a king. King Roger kept his eyes under 
such complete control that, although constantly 
meeting people, for the space of three years it 
was observed that he never looked a woman in 
the face. A person who had observed this 
asked him the reason, and got this reply: 
“When a man does what he can, and avoids 



Of Modesty in Dress. 


243 


the occasion of sin, then God on his part does 
what He can, and preserves him from sin ; but 
when a man rashly throws himself in the way 
of danger, then he is justly deserted by God, 
and permitted to fall into sin.” 


CHAPTER IyXVII. 
of modesty in dress. 

^pHERE is an old maxim, that “ fine feathers 
* * make fine birds,” and this maxim is al¬ 
ways applied with contempt to overdressed 
women. The meaning seems to be about this : 
She has got a fine rig on her back, but very 
little sense in her head ; she prides herself on 
her fine dress, but there is little else to be 
proud of. 

Modesty and simplicity in dress are great or¬ 
naments to a woman, and the woman whose 
heart is bent on serving God and gaining Hea¬ 
ven must and will show this modesty and sim¬ 
plicity in her attire ? Why ? Simply because 
her soul is taken up with something more 
important than dress. She remembers that she 
has been placed here on earth, an immortal soul, 
to accomplish her destiny by serving and loving 
God, and not like a wax figure in a shop-win¬ 
dow, to be a machine to hang finery on. 




244 


Of Modesty in Dress . 


Her rule is rather that of the Gospel: ‘ ‘ Hav¬ 
ing food and raiment, let us be therewith con¬ 
tent ’ ’ ; and she bears in mind the words of the 
Saviour of the world : “Be not solicitous for 
your life what you shall eat, nor for your body 
what you shall put on ; the life is more than the 
food, and the body more than the raiment’’ 
(Matt. vi. 25). 

Such was the idea of St. Frances of Rome. 
Of a noble and wealthy family, married to one of 
the most accomplished and prominent men, she 
was obliged, by her station, to wear rich and 
magnificent dresses, but it was alwaj^s against 
her inclination. She would not act contrary to 
the wishes of her husband and his family, but 
she wore under her rich dress a habit of the 
coarsest and roughest material. At last the 
grace and favor of God to her was so openly 
manifested, that her husband told her that he 
would not stand in her way any longer, but that 
she should follow exactly what she deemed 
pleasing to God. For the rest of her life she 
never wore any other gown than one of coarse 
green cloth. This would not have been right 
ordinarily, for we must generally dress accord¬ 
ing to our stations in life and avoid every 
singularity; but her holiness had become so 
well known that it was proper in her case, and 
only gave edification to all who saw her. 

So it was also with St. Elizabeth, who was 



Of Modesty in Dress. 


245 


of a royal family. She took care to be dressed 
suitably and neatly, and was much admired for 
her simple and innocent grace of manner and 
dress ; but still it was observed that she avoided 
every possible display of ornament and unneces¬ 
sary extravagance, and seemed to be entirely 
free from all that vanity and lightness so com¬ 
mon to rich and beautiful young ladies of her 
class. As soon as misfortune came upon her 
she gladly laid aside every vestige of her great¬ 
ness, and clothed herself in the poorest and 
coarsest apparel. 

And there are now many ladies of fortune and 
high position who, with the spirit of Catholic 
piety, while they strive to avoid singularity and 
remark, study to dress just as plainly and inex¬ 
pensively as possible. 

What a contrast here is to the giddy girl 
who earns by hard labor a few dollars a month, 
and lays it all out on her back ! 

You, maybe, have heard of the fable of the 
jackdaw and the peacock. The jackdaw stole 
some of the peacock’s feathers and stuck them 
in his tail, and then went strutting about among 
the peacocks; but as soon as he opened his 
mouth to make a noise the cheat was discovered, 
and falling upon him they picked him bare on 
the spot. 

So it is with these girls so fashionably rigged 
up : as soon as.they open their mouths to speak, 



246 Advantages of Modesty in Dress . 


or as soon as you get a good look in their faces, 
you see at once how much out of place all this 
finery is. 


CHAPTER EXVIII. 

ADVANTAGES OF MODESTY IN DRESS. 

I DO not mean to say that a good and pious 
working-girl should dress either shabbily 
or much out of the prevailing fashion. That 
would be a mistake of another kind, and would 
attract unpleasant observation upon her, and be 
disedifying. But I mean to say that she should 
study to dress neatly and modestly, and with 
economy ; laying out as little of her earnings as 
she can on dress ; avoiding expensive material, 
such as the wealthy can afford, and wearing that 
which becomes her better, and is at the same 
time far more suitable to her condition and her 
means. 

A prudent girl will understand what I mean. 
She knows that while she does not spend more 
than a quarter as much as some others, she can 
dress quite as well; nay, in better taste and 
keeping. 

Now let me speak of the advantages which 
such a course will procure those who follow it. 
Of course, the spiritual benefit to their own souls 
is the chief and greatest; but I do not wish to 




Advantages of Modesty in Dress. 


speak of that, as so much has already been said. 
It is also of very great advantage towards secur¬ 
ing a happy and prosperous life here. 

If a girl prefers to remain single, it will enable 
her to do a great deal of good ; and what purer 
source of happiness is there than that ? 

It may be she has dear relations—father and 
mother, brothers and sisters—who need her 
help, and she, by her simplicity and economy in 
dress, can render them great assistance. What 
a delight it is to think of the happiness she has 
caused at home when she gets a letter filled 
with love and blessings from those who are so 
dear to her ! Is not this far purer and sweeter 
than if, with cold-blooded selfishness, she had 
loaded all her money on her own back, to parade 
the streets and make a show of herself? 

If she has no needy relations who require her 
help, she has the opportunity of doing something 
to help the wretched and afflicted poor ; to feed 
the hungry and clothe the naked; and to receive 
the Lord’s benediction in return, the same as if 
it had been done for Himself, according to His 
assurance : ‘ ‘ Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
the least of these my brethren, you have done it 
unto me” (St. Matt. xxv. 40). 

Our Lord Jesus Christ showed once to St. 
Zita, in a miraculous manner, that He never 
forgets this promise. 

One Christmas Eve St. Zita was going out of 




248 Advantages of Modesty in Dress. 


the house to attend the first Mass. It was very 
cold, and her master insisted on her wearing 
his own warm fur cloak. The first thing she 
saw when she got to church was a poor man, 
his teeth chattering with cold, and moaning bit¬ 
terly. She went up to him and asked him if she 
could do anything to help him. He pointed to 
her cloak, and instantly she took it off her own 
shoulders and gave it to him, telling him to give 
it back after Mass, and she would lead him to a 
warm fire. When Mass was over she looked 
for the poor man, but he was nowhere to be 
found, and she had to go home without her cloak. 

Of course her master was very angry, and 
scolded her without measure. All day she bore 
it with patience until toward night, when a 
poor man appeared on the principal staircase of 
the house; his countenance had a look of so 
much benignity that every one who saw him 
was charmed. The fur cloak was in his hand ; 
and, in the presence of her master, he returned 
it to St. Zita, thanking her for her charity. 

As they were about to speak to him he van¬ 
ished like a gleam of lightning, leaving in their 
hearts such joy and consolation that they had 
no doubt that it was our Lord Himself who had 
appeared to them. 

There are many such examples in the lives of 
the saints, to show us that when in the spirit of 
faith we deny ourselves to relieve the poor, we 





Advantages of Modesty in Dress . 249 


receive the same blessing as if it had been 
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who had come 
asking alms, and whom we had the happiness 
of relieving in His necessity. 

If you do not relieve the poor, you may, in imi¬ 
tation of St. Mary Magdalen, anoint our Lord’s 
feet with precious ointment. How can this be 
done? By contributing to the erecting and 
beautifying of churches and altars. The girls 
who live out have been called the church-build¬ 
ers, and it is a glorious title for them. Out of 
their hard earnings they have done so much for 
the glory and honor of God and for the salvation 
of immortal souls that God will never forget it. 

King David exclaimed : “Dost thou see that 
I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God 
is lodged within curtains?” (2 Kings vii. 2). 
And he gave his whole attention to provide for 
the erection of the Temple. 

So what a heartfelt pleasure it must be to the 
pious girl to deny herself something in dress, in 
order that the Lord of Glory may have more suit¬ 
able adornment in His House, where He dwells 
out of love to us! Surely it can be but little 
satisfaction to be bedizened out in the height of 
the fashion, and to see everything mean and un¬ 
suitable about the altar and tabernacle. 

But maybe the good girl intends, in God’s 
good time, to settle down in life as the head of 
a family. If her heart and soul are in dress, 



250 Advantages of Modesty in Dress. 


what kind of a husband will she be likely to get ? 
I fear a very poor stick, as they say ; some one 
as giddy-pated and thoughtless as herself; prob¬ 
ably some dissipated young man, who is taken 
by mere outside show ; for a more prudent and 
steady young man would think a good deal before 
he would make up his mind to take such a woman 
for a wife. 

He might be attracted at first, but he would 
say to himself: “ See here, before I go farther, 
let us see what a marriage with such a girl as 
this will be likely to bring me to. I can never 
earn enough to keep her in clothes, let alone the 
expenses of a family. Oh, no ! she may be well 
enough to flirt with a little while, but I mean to 
look elsewhere for a wife.” 

ket us suppose, however, by unusual good for¬ 
tune such a girl gets a good husband. Now they 
start in life to maintain themselves and provide 
for the future. Had she been saving, she might 
have laid up a snug little sum that would have 
given him a good start in business or trade. As 
it is, he has nothing ; and both of them are sadly 
put back, live in discomfort, and very likely will 
continue to do so the better part of their lives. 

Many a girl who has made quite a show in 
the way of fashionable dress, has settled down 
into the most slovenly and dirty wife, and has 
finally been glad enough to get the commonest 
rags to cover her back. 



CHAPTER LXIX. 


OF MODESTY IN DRESS—CONTINUATION. 

T 7 EEP neat and take care of what you wear ; 

make it last. What matter is it if your 
bonnet or your dress is a little out of fashion ? 

Study, then, simplicity and economy in your 
dress, for these things are suitable to your con¬ 
dition and station in life, and are pleasing to 
God. Avoid setting your heart on dress and 
fashion, for they will produce in your heart van¬ 
ity and self-love, that destroy the love of God. 
Hear what the Holy Ghost says of such things : 
And the Lord said: ‘ ‘ Because the daughters 
of Sion are haughty and have walked with out¬ 
stretched necks and wanton glances of the eye, 
and made a noise as they walked with their feet, 
and moved in a set pace, the Eord will make 
bald the crown of the head of the daughters of 
Sion, and the Lord will discover their hair. In 
that day the Lord will take away the ornament 
of shoes, and little moons, and chains, and neck¬ 
laces, and bracelets, and bonnets, and bodkins, 
and ornaments of the legs, and tablets, and sweet 
balls, and ear-rings and rings, and jewels hanging 
on the forehead, and changes of apparel, and 
short cloaks, and fine linen, and crisping-pins, 
251 


252 


Of Modesty in Dress. 


and looking-glasses, and lawns, and head-bands, 
and fine veils. And instead of a sweet smell, 
there shall be stench ; and instead of a girdle, a 
cord; and instead of curled hair, baldness; and 
instead of a stomacher, hair-cloth ” (Isai. iii. 
16-24). 

Here it is not meant to condemn the use of 
each of these things separately, but to condemn 
most severely any inordinate and excessive fol¬ 
lowing of worldly fashion. 

So St. Paul says: “ In like manner let women 
in decent apparel adorn themselves with mod¬ 
esty and sobriety, not with plaited hair, or gold, 
or pearls, or costly array. But as it becometh 
women professing piety with good works ” 
(1 Tim. ii. 9). 

And St. Peter: “ Whose adorning, let it not 
be the outward plaiting of the hair, or the wear¬ 
ing of gold, or the putting on of apparel, but the 
hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptibility 
of a quiet and meek spirit, which is rich in the 
sight of the Tord ” (1 St. Pet. iii. 3, 4). 

And in another place the Holy Ghost says: 
“ Glory not in apparel at any time” (Eccles. xi. 
4). St. John Chrysostom says on this subject: 
“The dancer, the prostitute, and the actor wear 
more handsome and costly habiliments than you. 
Besides, you glory in a thing of the pleasure of 
which the moth may deprive you ; you glory in 
a thing which worms produce and destroy. Buy 



Of Modesty in Dress. 


253 


a garment woven above, a garment admirable 
and splendid, made of true gold: this gold is not 
dug from the earth by convicts, it is the product 
of virtue, Tet us be clothed in that robe which 
is wrought, not by mechanics and slaves, but by 
the Tord Himself.” 

Avoid everything tending in the least to im¬ 
modesty in your dress, no matter if it be the 
fashion. It is never the fashion for modest 
women who fear God ; for such women never 
follow evil fashions. St. Chrysostom says of 
those who do so : “ They make a sport of the 
death of souls, merely to gratify a senseless 
pride, a pitiful vanity. They adhere to sin a 
thousand times more by the indecency of their 
apparel than by the voice.” 

Tow-necked dresses and bare arms give an 
air of vulgarity to those who wear them, and 
provoke much remark which would cause the 
blush of shame to crimson the cheek of the mod¬ 
est. They cause mortal sin sometimes, more 
even than a more open and undisguised indecen¬ 
cy, which would disgust by its coarseness. 

Consult, then, the Holy Ghost, listen to His 
voice in your hearts, and rather be too particu¬ 
lar than careless in so important a matter. 

To conclude, and to show you the difference 
between the pomp and splendor of the world and 
true Christian simplicity, let me give you the 
account of the journey of Melania, a noble Ro- 




254 


Of Modesty in Dress . 


man lady, to visit St. Paulinus at Nola. I will 
relate it in the very words of St. Paulinus him¬ 
self. But first I must tell you who Melania was. 
She was a noble Roman matron, possessed of 
immense riches, which were left at her disposal 
at the death of her husband, which occurred 
when she was only twenty-three years old. 
From that time she determined to devote herself 
to the service of God entirely, and she spent 
many years in the Holy Fand, having sold her 
property and distributed it freely for the relief 
of the needy. At the end of these years she 
came back to Rome for a short time, to encour¬ 
age her only son and her granddaughter to de¬ 
vote themselves also entirely to Christ. It was 
on this occasion that she, her daughter-in-law, 
and granddaughter, made this pious visit to St. 
Paulinus. Now for the account. 

“ She hastened,” said he, “to come and visit 
us, accompanied by her children in all their 
pomp and show. We saw the triumph of the 
glory of the Ford in the different style and equi¬ 
page with which the mother and her daughters 
(Albina and the young Melania) made the same 
j ourney. Their mother was seated on a poor, lean 
horse, more worthless and meaner than an ass, 
but she was followed by proud senators, who 
walked surrounded by all the pomp which the 
grandeur of their position and their opulence 
could afford. The Appian Way was not only 



Of Modesty in Dress. 


255 


covered, but completely crowded and resplen¬ 
dent, with pavilioned cars and gilded carriages, 
drawn by horses superbly harnessed, and a very 
great number of chariots; but the beauty of 
Christian humility far outshone all this vain 
display. 

“While the rich admired her who, though 
poor, was holy, she despised their wealth. We 
there were witnesses in this humiliation of the 
proud world to that which God esteems, since 
we behold royal purple, and silk, and robes em¬ 
broidered with gold, humble themselves before 
the black and w r orn garments of serge. 

“We blessed the Lord, Who makes the hum¬ 
ble wise, and in Whose sight true humility is a 
sure exaltation; Who filleth with good things 
and satiates with His holy viands those who 
hunger and thirst after His grace and justice, 
leaving the rich in their want.” 



CHAPTER EXX. 


ON TRUTHFULNESS. 

T HE prophet David cries out, in the 30th 
Psalm, “ Into thy hands I commend my 
soul, because thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, 
thou God of truth ” (Ps. xxx. 6). What con¬ 
fidence and childlike reliance on God is here, 
and what does it rest upon ? On the truth of 
the Almighty : “ Heaven and earth shall pass 
away, but my word shall not pass away” (St. 
Matt. v. 18). He is the eternal truth, and 
all our hopes and all our happiness depend 011 
it that he is so. 

So we say : “ O my Lord! I believe, because 
Thou art the infallible truth.” Truth, then, 
and perfect truth in God, ought to be most dear 
to us. We should say frequently : How lovely 
is the truth of God. Thanks be to God that He 
is the perfect truth. The God of perfect truth, 
who cannot deceive in the smallest particular, 
has redeemed me ; praise be to His holy Name ! 

If this perfect truth and sincerity of God is 
the foundation of all our hopes in Him, a per¬ 
fect truth and sincerity on our part ought to 
correspond to it. Jesus Christ is the pattern, 

256 


On Truthfulness . 


257 


and we must be the copy. As St. Paul says : 
We must put off the old man, “ who is corrupt¬ 
ed according to the desires of error; and put on 
the new man, who, according to God, is created 
in justice and holiness of truth. Wherefore, 
putting away lying, speak ye the truth every 
man with his neighbor ” (Eph. iv. 22-25). Tim 
soul that desires to make her salvation sure 
will begin by holding all lying in abomination. 
The lying tongue, says Scripture, is an abomi¬ 
nation to the Lord, and so it should be to her. 
And she should make a thorough work of it, 
casting out all lies, small or great, and speaking 
the truth in all things. 

Some may imagine that it is enough to be 
careful and speak the truth in all matters of 
importance. It is not enough. We must speak 
truth in small and great, in all things. And I 
will tell you the reason why. Sincerity is the 
basis and foundation of the Christian character, 
and lying and falsehood are directly opposed to 
this sincerity. Now, a real sincerity of char¬ 
acter will throw out all exceptions ; it will and 
must extend to all things. Just as the magnet 
draws to itself all the little bits of iron in its 
neighborhood, so will true sincerity of character 
draw all our little actions and words to itself 
and make them all sincere and truthful. 

You can all understand how if God could lie 
to us in any matter, however small, all our con- 



258 


On Truthfulness. 


fidence in Him would be destroyed. In the 
same way if we find a person lying in small 
matters, we conclude there is no real and true 
sincerity of character there. 

The habit of lying in little things will bring 
on the habit of lying in great ones, for lying is 
a weakness and cowardice, a want of Christian 
courage, that basely and meanly gives up pleas¬ 
ing Jesus Christ for fear of some man or woman 
who may be displeased. When this road is once 
entered upon it is travelled over very rapidly. 
You have given up to this cowardly fear in a 
little matter. You are more cowardly now than 
before and more ready to give up again. A 
greater thing comes up ; you are afraid to tell 
the truth, and lie again. So a little lie draws 
on a big one, and that another, until a habit of 
lying is formed, and God only knows wdiether it 
will ever be broken up. 

The worst of it is that this lying eats out and 
corrupts the whole character ; it extends to all 
kinds of things ; as well to God as to man. If 
you deceive your neighbor, you will become 
deceitful and double-dealing in all your ways. 
You will begin to deceive yourself, and frame 
excuses for sin, and plaster it over until your 
own conscience is blinded by a false light. 

And maybe this deceit and falsehood may 
corrupt and infect your heart to such an extent 
that your penance may be false also, and bring 



Scripture on Lying. 


259 


you to the bar of God unforgiven, when it is 
too late to repair the evil. 

Do not say, then, that any lie whatever is a 
small thing. It is the devil that prompts us to 
utter such maxims. He wants to throw a small 
cord around us, in order to bind us by and by 
with a strong and heavy chain. 


CHAPTER EXXI. 

SCRIPTURE ON EYING. 

I T is in view of this nature of lying and these 
consequences which are so apt to follow, 
when it is allowed to go on in little things, that 
God so strongly denounces lying in the Scrip¬ 
tures. 

Ties are set down as coming all from the 
devil. “ When the devil speaketh a lie he 
speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the 
father of lies ” (St. John viii. 44). This shows 
in what detestation God holds lies. The devil 
is his great enemy, and lies are from the devil. 
“God hateth a lying tongue” (Prov. vi. 
17). “Eying lips are an abomination to the 
Lord” (Prov. xii. 22). Eying is said to be 
a chief characteristic of the wicked. “The 
wicked are estranged and go astray speaking 




26 o 


Scripture on Lying. 


lies” (Ps. lviii. 3). “They delight in lies 
and curse inwardly” (Ps. lxii. 4). 

Now listen to the threats of God against lying. 
“He that speaketh lies shall not escape” 
(Prov. xiv. 5). “ The mouth that speaketh lies 

shall be stopped” (Ps. lxiii. 11). “But a ly¬ 
ing tongue is but for a moment” (Prov. xii. 
19). And, finally : “ All liars shall have their 
portion in the lake that burns with brimstone 
and fire” (Apoc. xxi. 8). I could quote 
many others to the same effect, for there is no 
vice in the whole Scripture held up with such 
loathing and scorn. 

The good and holy have always had a great 
dread of this vice. So Job, that model of Chris¬ 
tian perfection, exclaims: “As long as breath 
remaineth in me, and the Spirit of God in my 
nostrils, my lips shall not speak iniquity, neither 
shall my tongue contrive lying” (Job xxvii. 
2). Get this text of Holy Scripture by heart, 
and often pass it through your mind and often 
repeat it with your lips, that your heart may 
be as entirely set against all lying as Job’s was. 
God will reward such a disposition with his 
richest graces. 

A beautiful example is recorded of a holy 
bishop named Anthimus. He was willing to 
lay down his life rather than tell what many 
folks would be ready to call a small lie. It 
happened in this way. The emperor sent out 



Scripture on Lying. 


261 


his soldiers to seize him and lead him away to 
death. They came to his house and found him 
at home. He received them with so much kind¬ 
ness, and entertained them so hospitably, that 
he completely won their hearts, so that they 
rose up to go, saying : “We will tell the em¬ 
peror we came here but could not find you.” 
“No,” says he, “you will tell him no such 
thing. It is not right for a Christian to lie.” 
He made himself ready, accompanied them be¬ 
fore the emperor, and met his death by the 
stroke of the sword. 

That is the true love of Jesus Christ, not to 
say, Cord, Cord, I love Thee, and go on lying, 
but to be willing to suffer loss or reproaches, as 
this good bishop did, being ready to lay down 
his life rather than utter the smallest lie. 

Great rewards are promised for such holy dis¬ 
positions. Hear what St. John says of the one 
hundred and forty-four thousand who follow 
the Camb whithersoever he goeth : “These 
are purchased from among men, the first-fruits 
to God and to the Camb : and in their mouth 
was found no lie: for they are without spot be¬ 
fore the throne of God ” (Apoc. xiv. 4, 5). 

Keep in mind, then, always this exhortation 
of. the holy Apostle St. Paul to all Christians : 
‘ ‘ Cie not one to another ; stripping yourself of 
the old man with his deeds, and putting on the 
new, him who is renewed unto knowledge, ac- 



262 The DeviPs Pretexts for Lying. 


cording to the image of Him who created him.” 
And pray, with King Solomon : “Two things I 
have asked of Thee, O Lord, do not deny me: 
let vanity and lying lips be far from me. ’* 


CHAPTER EXXII. 

THE DEVIl/S PRETEXTS FOR EYING. 

T HE devil is the father of lies, the parent of a 
numerous progeny of lies, which he stirs 
up in the hearts of those who give ear to him, 
and all the various pretexts and excuses which 
he insinuates, to hinder them from telling the 
truth. Now, as I have already told you of the 
malignant and poisonous character of lying, I 
must so lay bare all the roots of it, all the pre¬ 
texts and excuses for it, that you be on your 
guard against them, and destroy the very root 
of the matter. 

J ust as the doctor, when he has a cancer to 
cure, takes good care to cut out every root of it, 
and searches and probes down deep to find 
them, for fear, if any should remain undiscov¬ 
ered and alive under the flesh, the cancer might 
again gather strength and be worse than before. 

The first of these excuses arises from the de¬ 
sire to get rid of some pain or punishment we 
have deserved, most generally of a reprimand or 




The Devils Pretexts for Lying. 263 


scolding. A girl has been negligent of her duty. 
Her mistress goes down into the kitchen and 
finds a great heap of dirty dishes that ought to 
have been washed and put away long ago ; or 
the floor that she directed to be scrubbed is in a 
filthy condition, while the girl has had abun¬ 
dance of time to do it; or the beds are not made 
up, late in the day; or the meals are behind 
time, or half-cooked or burned, or many other 
things neglected which I cannot specify. 

Now, instead of an acknowledgment and a 
resolve to do better, there are a lot of lies ready 
for the occasion. She had such and such things 
to do and was overburdened with work, or she 
felt very unwell, or the fire would not kindle, 
or the stove would not draw, or she had to go 
after this or that; anything for an excuse. 

The mistress may be deceived sometimes, 
but she at last finds out that these excuses are a 
pack of lies, and the result is, more ill-temper 
and vexation and scolding, and dismissal, than 
if all had been frankly and sincerely owned and 
amended. 

‘ ‘ I have found her careless and lazy, but she 
has one merit, she does speak the truth,’* is 
what the lady of the house will say of a truthful 
girl, and this speaking the truth will atone for 
many a shortcoming. 

Sometimes the lying is to cover up some 
injury to the property of your employer. You 



264 The Devils Pretexts for Lying. 


have broken dishes, or allowed something to 
go to ruin through carelessness. You think 
something may be deducted from your wages, 
or that you will be scolded, and you deny it. 
Have you not deserved all this? Of course. 
Well, then, if you will not commit a double sin, 
own up and take the consequences like a Chris¬ 
tian, and not behave as a cowardly heathen 
would. 

“ Oh ! but,” says the father of lies, “ it was 
but a small matter ; what is the use of having * 
a fuss about it ? I know she will scold hard 
if she knows it.” Say: “Get behind me,.Sa¬ 
tan ; I will own up, and bring to naught all your 
tricks.” 

Let me tell you what happened once from 
telling a lie about these small matters. The 
Empress Eudoxia received the gift of a perfect 
and beautiful apple from her husband, the 
emperor. She sent it as a present to a sick 
nobleman called Paulinus. The emperor by 
chance found out that Paulinus had this apple, 
and being of a jealous disposition, he asked his 
wife what she had done with the apple he gave 
her. She, out of a cowardly fear of a little dis¬ 
pleasure, instead of owning that she had given 
it away, said that she had eaten it. Her reply 
fixed the evil suspicion so deep in the emperor’s 
mind that Paulinus was ordered to be slain, 
and the empress was divorced and sent away 



The Devil's Pretexts for Lying. 265 


into banishment. So much for a lie about an 
apple. 

Sometimes the lie is to conceal a petty dis¬ 
honesty. You have taken some trifling thing 
for your own use, or given it away to your 
friends. You perceive that a sincere avowal 
and acknowledgment of this fault will not in¬ 
jure your character, or make you less esteemed, 
but the idea of shame puts you up to deny it, 
and tell many lies to screen yourself. How much 
better to come out at once with the truth, and 
ask forgiveness, being determined to be more 
particular in future. The shame you experience 
will be a powerful means to keep you from ever 
falling into the like fault again. You lie about 
these things, and when it comes to more impor¬ 
tant things in Confession the devil is all ready 
to suggest other lies. In the first place, the 
whole truth is not told ; very likely the value is 
concealed, the thing is made light of, for shame 
or for fear of being made to restore, and a lie is 
told to Almighty God. 

St. Peter said to Ananias and Saphira, his 
wife, You have not lied to man, but to God, and 
by God’s judgment, for our warning, they fell 
dead on the spot. How many lies are not told 
to God in the same way. Ananias brought the 
price of his field that he had sold and laid it at 
the Apostle’s feet. But it was not the whole 
price, as he pretended and said it was. 



266 The Devils Pretexts for Lying. 


So the girl conies to Confession and lays 
down her sin at the priest’s feet, but not the 
whole sin. There is a lie in that Confession. 
She is so in the habit of lying that she can’t tell 
a straight story even in Confession. Ananias 
had an excuse for his lie which this girl has 
not. 

His money was his own and he was not 
obliged to bring one cent of it to St. Peter. St. 
Peter said to him : “ Whilst the field remained, 
did it not remain to thee ? and being sold, was it 
not in thy power ? ” (Acts v. 4). He told what 
people would call a simple lie, that injured no 
one. He, out of vanity, wanted to get credit 
for what he did not deserve ; yet he heard these 
fearful words: ‘ ‘ Why has Satan tempted thy 
heart to lie to the Holy Ghost ? ’ ’ This most 
fearful example of God’s judgment on lying was 
no doubt given as a special warning that lying 
in general is an evil thing, and especially when 
it comes to dealing with God in the tribunal of 
penance. 

Another troop of lies arises from a desire to 
screen others. “ I would not care so much for 
myself, but it is a good thing to get her off, or 
him.” No, let him or her manage their own af¬ 
fairs, but keep your soul clear of lying for them. 
To screen a friend may be well enough, if it can 
be done without sin. But you have no right to 
sin that good may come. 



Examples of Truthfulness . 


267 


This is the devil’s artifice to cheat souls. He 
holds out something which appears good, and 
says it is no harm to do so and so : “ Don’t you 
see what good you will do by it: the good is a 
great deal more than all the sin. Don’t be so 
dreadfully scrupulous: the world could not get 
on at all if folks acted on such principles.” 
Say, again: “Get behind me, Satan; I will 
have none of your tricks.” 


CHAPTER EXXIII. 

EXAMPLES OF TRUTHFULNESS. 

\ BISHOP, called Firmus—that is, firm, but, 
as St. Augustine says, more firm in his 
will to keep God’s holy commandments—when 
the emperor’s bailiffs came to him, inquiring 
for a man whom the bishop had hidden, re¬ 
plied that he would neither betray the man to 
them nor tell them any lie. They being pagans, 
tortured him severely and led him away to the 
emperor, but the bishop’s sincerity and good¬ 
ness made such an impression that the emper¬ 
or, without any hesitation, pardoned the culprit 
at the bishop’s request. 

Tell no lie under any pretext of good, or ap¬ 
pearance of humility, or of any other virtue. A 
venerable hermit, St. John of Egypt, was visited 




268 


Examples of Truthfulness. 


by a company of good men who desired to re¬ 
ceive his holy instructions. He received them 
most kindly, and they begged his blessing. 
But he replied : “ Is there no one among you in 
Holy Orders?” They answered, “No.” The 
saint then looked at each one in turn attentive¬ 
ly until he came to the youngest, when he 
pointed his finger at him and said : “ This one 
is a deacon.” Now, this was really a deacon, 
but he had concealed the fact from a desire to 
avoid being honored by men whom he consid¬ 
ered so much superior to himself in point of holi¬ 
ness. And out of this motive he denied it 
again. Now notice the conduct of St. John. 
He took the hand of the young man, kissed it 
to show his respect for his office, and addressed 
him in these words : “ Take care, my son, how 
you disavow the grace you have received from 
God, for fear a good thing may not cause you to 
fall into evil, and humility plunge you in lying ; 
for we must never lie, neither out of a bad mo¬ 
tive, nor out of a good one ; for a lie does not 
come from God, but from the author of evil, as 
our Saviour has taught us.” An admirable in¬ 
struction which you should never forget. 

A little boy of nine years of age gives us one 
equally good. This little boy had forgotten 
something his father had commanded him to do, 
and fearing a whipping, he began, as boys do, 
to cry. The servants asked him the reason, 



Examples of Truthfulness. 


269 


and made up a plausible lie for him to tell to 
clear himself before his father. “ Oh ! ” said 
they, “just say so and so, and you will get off; 
but if you tell the truth you will surely be well 
flogged.” The boy replied : “ It is better to be 
killed than to lie : let my father do what he 
likes ; for my part, if I die I will tell no lie ; 
how could I dare to appear before the Blessed 
Virgin after I had told an untruth !” 

Suppose, then, that you do succeed by these 
lies in escaping a scolding or a punishment, 
what does that signify ? You have a guilty con¬ 
science. How can you appear with confidence 
before God in prayer ? How can you ask the 
intercession of the Blessed Virgin or the saints 
who were such haters of all lying. 

You have saved your own interest, or your 
feelings, but have inflicted a great dishonor on 
God and a shame on His holy religion. ‘ ‘ That’s 
a Catholic.” “That’s one that goes to Con¬ 
fession, but she don’t scruple to tell a lie when 
she finds it convenient.” “ Oh ! she is very 
religious, but you can’t believe a word she 
says.” “There is one thing about Catholic 
girls, they will lie ’ ’; and a host more of such 
expressions fly about. They are often unjust, 
but still I fear there is but too often truth in 
them. 

We may say it is very unjust to attack the 
church for the sins of her members ; but let the 



270 


Whether to Marry or Not . 


members bear in mind that such things will be 
said if they give occasion by their sins. 

In conclusion, then, be determined—out of 
the fear, and, much more, for the love of God ; 
out of regard to our own souls, and for the honor 
of the church of Christ, and the good of other 
souls who see in you an example—“ to put away 
the old man with his corruptions, and put on 
the new man who is in sincerity and truth ” ; 
and “avoiding all lying,” resolve “to speak 
the truth every man to his neighbor ” (Eph. iv. 
22-24). 


CHAPTER EXXIV. 

whether to marry or not. 

W E now approach a subject of the highest im¬ 
portance to the greater part of our work¬ 
ing-girls, namely : that which relates to mar¬ 
riage, by which they attain a settlement for 
life. 

I suppose almost every girl gives this matter 
a good deal of attention, as her future well-be¬ 
ing depends so much upon it, and therefore I 
think it worth while to say something in respect 
to the way she ought to look upon it, and be¬ 
have herself in regard to it. 

Marriage is a state of life instituted by God 




Whether to Marry or Not. 


271 


Himself, for the welfare, happiness, and con¬ 
tinuance of the human family. He has implant¬ 
ed in the heart, therefore, a desire for it, which 
induces the greater part of mankind on arriving 
at mature age to enter into it. Young men and 
young women seek for a congenial and suitable 
companion with whom they can spend their 
lives in comfort and happiness. 

This state of life affords a young woman a 
permanent home of her own, in which she has a 
husband and children to love and care for. We 
must all have some one to love, and although it 
is true that the love of God is sufficient to fill 
the heart, and to fill it completely, yet God has 
willed that ordinarily the love of kindred should 
also solace us and make life more endurable. 

Now, our parents, brothers and sisters, or 
more distant relations, do not supply that love 
which the heart craves. They either pass away 
from this world and leave us behind, or are 
taken up with their own affairs and do not love 
us sufficiently, so that when God does not call 
to a single life, a nearer tie and stronger love 
is required, which marriage can alone afford. 
God has said : ‘ ‘ Wherefore a man shall leave 

father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, 
and they shall be two in one flesh” (Gen. 
ii. 24). 

I am not surprised, then, that a girl should 
wish to settle herself in life by marriage. She 



272 


Whether to Marry or Not. 


may be happy enough, and well enough off, at 
the present, but she has to consider the future ; 
her life in middle age and when she is old. 

She may very well have a repugnance to be¬ 
ing left alone in the world as she advances in 
life, and shudders at the dreary prospect. Or 
she may have a proper ambition to be her own 
mistress, the head of her own household, in¬ 
stead of remaining all her days at some kind of 
service in an inferior position. 

Reflections of this kind naturally present 
themselves to her mind and induce a conclusion 
that if she finds a good opportunity she will get 
married, and I am sure I see no impropriety in 
such a determination. 

Still, she should remember that there is an 
“if” about it, and the matter does not lie in her 
own power. She may never find the opportu¬ 
nity to make a suitable match, and if she does 
not, it is a clear indication of God’s will that 
she should not marry, notwithstanding she may 
wish it. 

Remember tbe old saying: “Matches are 
made in Heaven.” If you are to marry, God 
will provide a suitable match at the right time ; 
and if He does not, you are to remain content 
with His holy will. 

From this I draw the conclusion that it is 
best for young women not to think too much on 
this subject, particularly when they are not re- 



Whether to Marry or Not. 


273 


ceiving attentions which seem to point to an 
offer of marriage. 

I do not see what good can come of it, and, on 
the contrary, a deal of harm. Thinking about 
it and talking of it will not bring it about any 
sooner. As soon as any anxiety to marry is 
perceived in a young woman, it produces a feel¬ 
ing of disgust in all who perceive it, and women 
who are supposed to be on the look-out for a 
match are commonly avoided. A natural mo¬ 
desty and reserve are far more attractive. 

Again, you may become unhappy and dis¬ 
contented by dwelling on such thoughts. You 
become by them dissatisfied with God’s provi¬ 
dence concerning you, and a murmurer against 
Him, and entirely lose your tranquillity of mind, 
without which you cannot make progress in 
holiness and God’s love. 

But there is far greater danger—the danger 
of losing your innocence and purity of soul. 
The devil is ready to mix with what is proper 
and right that which is unfit and sinful. By 
dwelling anxiously on this matter of marriage 
and thinking too much about it, you expose 
yourself to very great danger of falling into sin. 

My advice then is, that without thinking 
much about it, you commit the whole matter to 
God, begging Him to take care of you, and pro¬ 
vide for your future life as shall seem most 
fitting in His eyes. 



CHAPTER EXXV. 


CONTINUATION. 

B UT, on the other hand, there may be girls 
who are disinclined to marry. They find 
themselves very well contented in the single 
life, and do not wish to change their condition. 
They dread the cares and responsibility which 
they know to follow from the state of marriage, 
and choose to retain their freedom. 

Some may be influenced principally by con¬ 
siderations of piety. They see in the single 
life greater opportunities to serve God than they 
think they would find in a married one. They 
fear that they will be too much taken up by the 
cares of a family and not be so much at liberty 
to devote themselves to piety and religion. 

As St. Paul says: “And the unmarried wo¬ 
man and the virgin thinketh on the things of the 
Eord, that she may be holy both in body and 
spirit; but she that is married thinketh on the 
things of the world, how she may please her 
husband” (i Cor.) 

They bear in mind the examples of the 
Blessed Virgin and of so many of the saints who 
have consecrated themselves to God in holy vir- 
274 


Whether to Marry or Not. 


2/5 


ginity, and feel inclined to follow in their foot¬ 
steps. 

Now, I would advise these not to be too 
hasty in making a decision, and above all to 
avoid anything like a rash vow or promise to 
God in reference to it. 

There is plenty of time and no need of haste. 
Notwithstanding such feelings, you may not 
know your own mind or the will of God, and 
there is no need of entangling yourself by any 
rash proceeding. 

I have known many, who seemed fully de¬ 
termined to remain single, who, on getting a 
good offer, have changed their minds and ac¬ 
cepted it. If they had in a moment of fervor 
made any rash vow or promise on the subject 
it would have been a serious detriment to them, 
and, perhaps, been a subject of regret all their 
lives. 

And, sometimes, God’s holy will may be dif¬ 
ferent from what it seems to us at first sight. 
We have an instance of this in the case of St. 
Frances of Rome. She had a very strong desire 
to live the life of a nun, but her father wished 
her to marry and promised her to a nobleman of 
the city. She shed many bitter tears, but on 
praying earnestly and consulting pious and holy 
advisers, she became fully convinced it was 
God’s will for her to marry. She did so, and in 
this state of life she became a great saint. 



2 j 6 


Whether to Marry or Not . 


Whether, then, you feel on the whole in¬ 
clined to marry, or to remain single, keep per¬ 
fectly tranquil, and do not let your mind dwell 
much on the subject, being ready to follow God’s 
will when He shows it to you more clearly by 
sending you an opportunity of marriage. 

Then you can consider more particularly 
whether you should avail yourself of it or 
not. 

In making up your mind you can consider, 
first, your own circumstances : how you feel in¬ 
clined ; your habits ; your disposition, and other 
things which ought to be considered in your 
case ; secondly, the character of the other party: 
his moral character, his disposition and temper, 
his ability to maintain you ; in short, whether 
you will find it for your spiritual and tempora 1 
advantage to take him for a husband or not. 
Pray to God to direct you with an earnest desire 
to follow His will. After this, decide reason¬ 
ably and quietly what you conceive to be best, 
and afterwards do not allow yourself to be 
troubled, for you have followed the will of God 
in regard to you, and could not do better than 
that. 

In general, you are the one who will have to 
make a decision for yourself, as you know your¬ 
self and your own circumstances better than any¬ 
body else can know them; but it may be you 
have a prudent friend who knows you well, and 



Whether to Marry or Not. 


2 77 


whose advice may be of assistance to you; in 
that case it would be well to ask advice. 

You know the maxim, No man can judge in 
his own case. If you suspect passion is run¬ 
ning away with you, and blinding you to your 
real interest, the judgment of a sincere friend, 
who will not flatter, may be of the utmost im¬ 
portance to you. 

Now, let us suppose you are one of those who 
do not intend to marry, who have pretty much 
made up your mind to put away all advances on 
the subject; you ought to regulate your manners 
accordingly. There ought to be a special re¬ 
serve and modesty about you. To invite atten¬ 
tion, to run about freely in the company of 
young men, to joke and banter—in short, to act 
as if you had no such determination—is to sail 
under false colors. It is to hold out expecta¬ 
tions that you do not intend to fulfil. Tet there 
be, then, a correspondence between your interior 
disposition and your external manners, that you 
may not lead others astray and yourself into a 
grievous snare. 



CHAPTER EXXVI. 


GREAT NEED OF PRUDENCE. 

O N our coast, which is so stormy and danger¬ 
ous, there are many safe harbors where the 
mariner feels secure against the violence of every 
storm. But when he approaches these harbors 
he is wide awake and pays the closest attention 
to every movement of his vessel; and good rea¬ 
son he has for it too. Here is a shoal on this 
side, there is a ledge of rocks on the other ; here 
the channel takes a short turn; at no time of his 
whole voyage is there so much danger of ship¬ 
wreck as now. He must not relax his vigilance 
an instant until he drops anchor in the very 
spot where he will remain. 

So it is when about to anchor one’s self for 
life in the state of matrimony. The whole ap¬ 
proach to this state is filled with the greatest 
danger, and requires untiring vigilance to get 
through it safely without a wreck of happiness 
in this world and the next. 

And this danger is greater, it seems to me, in 
this country and at this time than at any other. 
Why? Because in other countries the inter¬ 
course between young people is more restrained 
and guarded than it can be here. It is there 

278 


Great Need of Prudence . 


279 


settled by custom that they shall not visit so 
often, or be so much together as is the case 
here. The parents or friends have far more to 
say and to arrange there, while here more de¬ 
pends on the parties themselves. Many a girl 
has no father or mother to look out for her and 
advise her. She has to manage everything for 
herself the best she can. On all these accounts 
far more discretion and prudence is required on 
the part of a young woman in this country than 
anywhere else. 

There is a peculiar modesty and shyness 
which springs up in the heart when one changes 
from the state of childhood to that of woman¬ 
hood. No doubt God has given this to be a 
safeguard at the most dangerous period of life. 
When one could, as a light-hearted, innocent 
girl, speak and act with freedom, she must, as 
a young woman, keep an eye upon all her ac¬ 
tions; that nothing may go beyond the bounds of 
propriety and be a snare to herself or to others. 

Many women of this age moving about in the 
world are forming acquaintances and intimacies 
more or less close, and their entire future de¬ 
pends upon what they are. 

Let us lay down, then, a few rules of pru* 
dence as to how she should conduct herself in 
that dangerous period of life which extends 
from the time of her arriving at mature age un¬ 
til she is married. 



280 


What Intimacies to Form . 


Eet us see what intimacies it would be pru¬ 
dent for her to form, and how she should behave 
herself during the period of the courtship. 


CHAPTER EXXVII. 

WHAT INTIMACIES TO FORM. 

R E careful what acquaintances you make. 

There are many young men of pleasing ap¬ 
pearance, but who are demons in heart. Keep 
a guard, then, that you do not allow your feel¬ 
ings to get too much interested before you have 
time to make some kind of a judgment whether 
to allow an intimacy to be formed. 

If you discover a heart filled with bad and 
impious principles, one that is a proud scoffer at 
religion or seems destitute of religious princi¬ 
ples, i. e. y an infidel, whether he goes by the 
name of Catholic or not, avoid such a one. 

There are plenty of such, real infidels at 
heart. They smooth it over when they want 
to marry some Catholic girl, who would be 
shocked at a plain open avowal of their senti¬ 
ments, and when the marriage is over they con¬ 
ceal it no longer, but take delight in ridiculing 
religion ; in destroying the faith and love of 
their wives; and if they have families, in ruin¬ 
ing their immortal souls. 




What Intimacies to Form. 


281 


Now, these girls who marry such men, and 
who pay for it by the bitterest tears, perhaps for 
their whole lifetime, had they only exercised 
the slightest prudence, had they prayed to God 
and not been blinded by their own silly and un¬ 
reasonable passion, would have noticed enough 
in their manners and conversation to have put 
them on their guard, and they would have 
sooner cut off their right hand than to have 
united their fate for life and death with 
them. 

Says St. Paul: * ‘ Bear not the yoke together 
with unbelievers. For what participation hath 
justice with injustice ? Or what fellowship hath 
light with darkness ? And what agreement 
hath Christ with Belial ? ”— i. e ., the devil. 

Again : If you discover a want of moral 
principle, that the person is the slave of any 
grievous sin, be on your guard, think not to 
take such a person as your partner for life. If 
the young man drinks freely and gets intoxi¬ 
cated, and there is a real danger that he will 
turn out a drunkard, for God’s sake, and your 
own soul’s, form no intimacy with such a one. 
What are you going to marry for? A quiet, 
peaceful home, and the opportunity of further¬ 
ing your salvation. 

The drunkard’s home you well know is a 
picture of hell on earth, with its everlasting 
strife, disorder, burning passions, and hatred. 



282 


What Intimacies to Form. 


Is that the school in which you expect to learn 
the way of salvation ? 

I speak of this sin of drunkenness because it 
is the bitter root from which all kinds of vices 
and horrors may be expected to grow. There 
is no need of giving examples. 

If you live in the city, go into the next street, 
or if in the country, go a short distance in your 
neighborhood, and you can find examples 
enough. Who is that bloated, coarse-looking 
woman who has not, apparently, combed her 
hair for a week, with a lot of ragged children 
bawling and fighting and cursing around her 
in her miserable, dirty hovel ? That was, a few 
years ago, a pretty, modest girl, who was inno¬ 
cent and light-hearted, earning an easy living 
in a quiet, pleasant family, and attending to her 
duties regularly and with great delight to her 
soul. 

She has not been to Mass for nearly a year, 
and cannot go, she says, “ because her husband 
puts her about so.” She wishes she was dead 
and gone, for her life is a burden to her. 

And it was all her own fault. She knew 
enough about him when he was paying her at¬ 
tentions to put her on her guard. When he 
came to see her she smelled liquor in his breath 
repeatedly. Sometimes he showed quite plain¬ 
ly that he was under its influence, but she shut 
her eyes. “ Oh ! ” she said, “ I don’t believe it 



What Intimacies to Form . 


283 


is as bad as it looks.’’ She did believe it, how¬ 
ever, but she would not acknowledge it, for she 
had made up her mind to marry him. 

Then friends came to warn her: “ Don’t you 
know that young man is a drunkard? It is 
quite certain, and everybody knows it. You 
will rue the day you take him for a husband.” 
She got obstinate, forgot God and even her own 
plain good sense and reason, and was deter¬ 
mined to take him at any rate, even if she 
should lose her soul in consequence. 

Ah, poor woman ! I am afraid it will come 
to that, for your life is sinful, and there is little 
probability of its ever being changed for the 
better. Such examples speak a loud warning to 
you to teach you to avoid the misery of marry¬ 
ing a drunkard. 

In the same way, if you discover any other 
confirmed vice, such as dishonesty, or impuri¬ 
ty, do not let your acquaintance run on to an 
intimacy; do not let yourself get entangled, 
or think for a moment of marriage with such 


a one. 




CHAPTER EXXVIII. 


OF MIXED MARRIAGES. 

T HE question may be asked whether a Catho¬ 
lic young woman should in any case marry 
a person who is of a false or heretical religion. 
Cases may occur in which a really good and 
conscientious girl gets an offer of marriage that 
seems in all respects a good one, with this one 
exception—that the person is not a Catholic, 
and she is embarrassed as to what she should do. 

A difference of religion between husband and 
wife is no doubt a great source of unhappiness 
in the marriage state, and a great evil. The 
want of sympathy in that which is the nearest 
and dearest to the heart must be a painful draw¬ 
back to the love they should cherish towards 
each other, even if it does not lead to positive 
disagreement. The difficulties likely to arise in 
regard to the education of the children are great 
even if the father does not interfere. His ex¬ 
ample cannot fail to influence their ideas and 
conduct, and to put an obstacle in their way. 
On all accounts it is exceedingly desirable that 
a Catholic wife should have a Catholic husband. 
But it may happen that a Catholic young 

284 


Of Mixed Marriages. 


285 


woman may not have an opportunity to marry 
in her own religion. She may never have an 
offer of marriage from a Catholic who has the 
character and qualities likely to insure her hap¬ 
piness, and of course she cannot marry any one 
unless he has. 

She receives an offer from a Protestant of 
good character and disposition, who is agreeable 
in all respects except his religion; should she 
reject this offer? 

This depends on circumstances. In the first 
place, he is bound by the law of the church to 
solemnly promise you the free exercise of your 
religion, and that all the children of the mar¬ 
riage shall be brought up Catholics. If he re¬ 
fuses to make these arrangements, you are 
bound to let him go. You should not enter¬ 
tain the matter a moment; for how can you 
make a contract in which you give up a part of 
your duty to God? You are bound to see that 
your children are educated in the one true faith 
—and there can be but one—and you have no 
right to place them in circumstances which ex¬ 
pose them to the risk of losing it. 

Here is a case for showing your true Chris¬ 
tian principles and courage. You may have to 
sacrifice your inclination, or, in a degree, your 
worldly prospects, but the martyrs of old laid 
down even their lives cheerfully for Jesus 
Christ’s sake. Depend upon it, our L,ord will 



286 


Of Mixed Marriages. 


not overlook any sacrifice you make for Him, 
nor fail to reward you abundantly. 

If the person is willing to make the promises, 
inquire further whether he is strongly and blind¬ 
ly attached to his religion, and prejudiced 
against yours. If you find that such is the case, 
do not trust his promises. They will not be 
kept. Misery and ruin will follow such a 
union. 

Do not trust that he will be converted. The 
prospect of it is too remote to build upon. The 
chance is that you will give way in a cowardly 
spirit and act against your conscience, and that 
the children will follow his example rather than 
your own. 

There are plenty of examples of unhappy 
mothers who have dragged out a miserable ex¬ 
istence during their whole life because they 
could not control their children, whom they 
loved so much, or see any prospect of their 
eternal salvation. Far better remain single than 
marry with such a prospect before you. 

But if you see a candid, reasonable disposi¬ 
tion in the one who solicits your hand, without 
prejudice against your religion, or at least 
without unreasonable prejudice which the truth 
cannot remove, and all is right in other respects, 
I would not like to stand in your way. 

Be well assured that you are not deceived in 
these respects, and take time enough to make a 



Behavior during Courtship . 


287 


safe decision. Pray to God for guidance, and 
take advice, and then decide the matter as 
seems on the whole the best and the most pru¬ 
dent. 


CHAPTER EXXIX. 

BEHAVIOR DURING COURTSHIP. 

AT OW let us suppose an acquaintance has been 
^* formed and has gone so far that the sub¬ 
ject of marriage is seriously thought of, it be¬ 
comes a question of grave importance what kind 
of conduct one ought to observe. 

Visits are frequently received, and it is easy 
to perceive that an interest in one another has 
been awakened. The young man says to him¬ 
self : ‘ ‘ That is a fine young woman ; I like her 
much, and perhaps I could not do better than 
to ask her for a wife.” And the young woman 
says : “ If he should propose, I am not sure it 
would not be the best thing I could do to accept 
him, as he really seems very amiable and suita¬ 
ble.” 

That is all very well; but the devil will try 
and take his advantage, and mix up with what 
is holy and good his suggestions of evil. You 
are frequently in each other’s company. It 
would be better if some one were present at the 
same time. And when young women can so 




288 


Behavior during Courtship. 


arrange it, they ought to strive to have some 
discreet companion in the room. 

For example, one living at home should pre¬ 
fer that her parents, if they are good, should be 
present, or a brother or sister, as it shuts the 
door on all danger of undue familiarity, and of 
many temptations which would creep in. 

If away from home and other girls are in the 
house, it would be as well that they should be 
present during these visits. 

But it will often happen that there is no suit¬ 
able person who can be present, and you must 
receive these visits alone; be careful that the 
most exact modesty and propriety is observed. 

Now is the time when you have need to re¬ 
commend yourself frequently to God, with a 
sincere and entire intention to maintain perfect 
purity in thought and word and deed. There 
is danger that evil thoughts will insinuate them¬ 
selves in your heart, but be more ready now to 
drive them out at once than ever before. 

Fly to God immediately, and say : “ My God, 
my God, preserve me. I desire with my whole 
heart to remain in Thy love, and by Thy grace I 
am determined that I will.” 

It would seem to the world impossible to 
maintain purity at such a time ; but it is not im¬ 
possible, indeed it is easy if you really desire 
to love God and are constant to beg his grace. 

Just as it was easy for God to shut the lion’s 




Behavior during Courtship . 


289 


mouth when Daniel was cast into their den, so 
that they could do him no harm, while he re¬ 
mained there with as much peace and tranquilli¬ 
ty of soul as if in his own retired chamber. 

It will be half the battle, as they say, if you 
are determined at the very outset to keep clear 
of every sin, and this determination will prepare 
you for every temptation that you may encoun¬ 
ter. 

If the young man is truly and sincerely 
pious, and has sentiments of the same kind, 
there will not be much difficulty. You have 
need of prayer and watchfulness, of course, as 
the devil is always on the lookout to ruin even 
the best and holiest souls ; but with these, I may 
say, there is no danger. 

Do not allow visits, however, to be protracted 
to a late hour of the night. When the family 
retire to rest, let that be the signal for you also 
to do the same. Say at once, It is time to close 
this evening’s visit, and to shut up the house. 
This may be done in a playful, cheerful manner, 
that will give no offence, and will cut off at 
once a world of difficulty. If the family keep 
very late hours themselves, then appoint a rea¬ 
sonable hour of your own, and when it arrives 
say in the same way, that it is time to retire, and 
bid good-night. Or say, that it is a rule with 
you not to allow a visit later than such an hour, 
for you need the time, in justice to God and to 



290 


Behavior during Courtship. 


your employer. To sit up late defrauds God of 
his prayer, and renders you unfit for your duty 
the next day. This late visiting has been the 
devil’s means of ruining thousands on thou¬ 
sands of well-disposed, good young women. 
The slightest reflection will cause you to see 
the evil of it yourself. 

Now, let us suppose the young man who 
visits you is not one of a thousand, so pious and 
well-disposed, but less impressed with the idea 
of keeping a good and pure conscience, follow¬ 
ing passion sometimes, even though grievously 
offending God. Now what may very likely 
happen ? 

In the course of conversation some words of 
double meaning, some insinuations which are 
not exactly proper, covered up, it may be, under 
the idea of marriage, or under the cloak of af¬ 
fection. How does it become you to meet them ? 
With great prudence. 

If very slight, treat them as if you were en¬ 
tirely unconscious of them, and speak of some¬ 
thing else, that you may show that you feel 
above taking any sort of notice of such things. 

If the things said are too plain to be passed 
by, show yourself offended at once ; say you are 
surprised at such talk, and never wish it to be 
repeated again. 

By a decided conduct you may, once and for 
all, put a stop to everything of the sort, and 



Behavior during Courtship. 


291 


make him see the evil of his conduct. Even a 
very bold and bad man is cowed down and 
made ashamed by a woman of real, heartfelt 
modesty. 

Alas ! many young women do not act with 
this reserve. Some improper remark is made, 
and they laugh and show themselves pleased, 
perhaps make an equally improper reply, and 
the matter goes on now without much regard 
for God or care for sin. The heart is infected, 
and though prudence and fear of shame may re¬ 
strain from certain shameful crimes, grievous 
sins are committed without number, the purity 
of the soul is gone, and the flame of hell is 
lighted up, which must be quenched by a bitter 
repentance, if ever quenched at all. Kissing 
and immodest freedom follow unchaste words, 
and in many cases ruin and disgrace and crime 
of the deepest character follow along after that. 
No one can tell what may be the final result of 
such a beginning. 



CHAPTER IyXXX. 


CONTINUATION. 

B UT, says some one : “A young man came to 
see me and kissed me, and used some famil¬ 
iarity toward me—it was not very bad.” Why 
did you permit it ? “I like him very well, and 
did not wish to offend him.” Has it occasioned 
you any wilful evil thoughts? “I don’t know 
exactly; I think not.” 

What a deadness of conscience here is ! If 
such things have repeatedly happened, as is 
often the case, we may be quite sure there is 
sin, and abundance of wilful evil thoughts. 
The devil has deceived such a one. I am quite 
sure there cannot be a real peace of conscience 
under such circumstances. You may cry, 

‘ ‘ Peace ! peace ! ” to yourself, ‘ ‘ but there is no 
peace.” 

“But the young man whom I love will be 
displeased if I stop such familiarities: he will 
leave off visiting me, and I shall lose my oppor¬ 
tunity of marrying one that I like.” 

Do not be so certain of that. No matter how 
vicious a man may be, he does not like to have 
an immodest woman for a wife. A man courts 
a young woman with the idea of marrying her; 
as the acquaintance goes on he begins to love 

292 


Behavior during Courtship. 


293 


her—now he has an idea it is a great thing to 
steal a kiss, as he says. He attempts with some 
roughness and freedom, and finds a lack of 
womanly modesty in the way it is received; that 
she is as willing to be kissed as he is to steal the 
kiss. Now, what is the result. He says: “By 
George ! that girl is a little bit too free to please 
me. It is agreeable enough to go see her, to 
amuse myself and pass away the time, but I 
rather think I will look elsewhere for a wife. I 
want my wife to be of another sort.” Some 
have even gone so far that they have determined 
to do their utmost to tempt and try any one they 
had an idea of marrying, being willing enough 
to commit sin, but determined never to marry 
any one who was not virtuous enough to resist 
their wicked attempts. 

But suppose the time of courtship has been 
spent in this sinful way, and yet all goes on and 
marriage takes place ; what then ? The founda¬ 
tion of a jealous and unhappy married life has 
been laid during this courtship to bring forth its 
bitter fruits. 

The wife may be quite innocent, but the hus¬ 
band is suspicious. “Oh! I know,” he says, 
‘ ‘ how she behaved when I was courting her; if 
she could sin so easily then, why not now ? I 
have not that confidence I should have had had 
she showed herself more discreet and prudent at 
that time.” 



294 


Behavior during Courtship . 


This suspicion may arise from anything really 
immodest, though it may not have gone very 
far, for the virtue of a woman is of such a nature 
that but little confidence is placed in it when 
circumstances show that immodesty has taken 
possession of the heart. 

Do not say, then: ‘ ‘ The young man I love 
will desert me if I put a stop to these familiari¬ 
ties.” He will do no such thing, if he be a 
young man worth having, but, on the contrary, 
he will conceive a great respect and esteem for 
you. Your conduct, if such as it ought to be, 
will cause him to be determined to secure such 
a prize as he esteems you to be for his own; for 
all true real love must be founded on respect 
and esteem. 

But if on your rebuke, given in a decided 
way, though mildly at first, he leaves you, ^say: 
“Good riddance! You are no great loss.” 
Thank God for delivering you from being bound 
for life to such an unsuitable companion. 

Say then, when an improper familiarity is at¬ 
tempted: “Hands off; never dare lay a finger 
on me again”; “You have entirely mistaken 
the person,” or some such thing. Show that 
you are offended; if the offence is more gross, 
leave the room, and let no doubt remain on his 
mind that you are deeply offended. 

A wise and prudent girl may forgive such an 
offence once if she sees sincere regret for it, but 



Behavior during Courtship. 


295 


not when it has been repeated. If, after suffi¬ 
cient warning, the same conduct is repeated, 
break off the acquaintance. 

When such things are allowed to go on, what 
is the consequence ? Sin and crime; shame 
and disgrace. The poor girl is deceived, and, 
finally, left ruined and heart-broken, deserted 
by her false lover, to bewail the consequences 
of her own folly. 

Another great abuse which happens some¬ 
times is that of taking evening walks. Instead 
of sitting down to talk, the affair is carried 
on walking in the streets. And opportunity 
enough the devil has to put forward his tempta¬ 
tions. It is improper. Very rarely, and unless 
you have confidence in the person, allow your¬ 
self to be accompanied even from one house to 
another ; but avoid all wandering around for the 
sake of conversation, if you would not expose 
yourself to the greatest danger. 

What I have said in regard to this perfect 
propriety and modesty during courtship applies 
to every day and every hour of it, from its be¬ 
ginning until the marriage takes place. Some 
are so stupid as to think that as soon as they 
have given their troth to another they can be¬ 
have with less propriety. They say : “We are 
to be married so soon there is no need to be so 
particular.” That is not true. The obligation 
to entire purity in thought, word, and deed is 



296 


Behavior during Courtship. 


as strong as ever, and God is as much offended 
by your violating it as if you had made no such 
engagement. 

And when you are engaged to marry, the 
marriage should not be too long deferred, hong 
courtships are a great temptation, and give rise 
very often to sin which would have been avoid¬ 
ed had they been shorter. Why put off the 
marriage when you have determined upon it? 
It is giving room to the devil to practise all his 
arts, either to break up the engagement or to 
lead you into sin. There may be reason for a 
certain delay; but, as a general thing, it is 
better to marry, notwithstanding some incon¬ 
venience, than to defer it. 

Your happiness in the married state depends 
in a great measure on the way you conduct 
yourself during the courtship. You expect to 
receive a sacrament. You ought then to pre¬ 
pare for it. Holy and pure motives ought to 
govern you, and pure and holy conduct pre¬ 
cede it. How can you expect God’s blessing 
on the marriage when you have been provoking 
his anger by a long course of sin. 

Those who do prepare well, who watch over 
their conduct carefully, that it maybe pleasing 
to God in all respects, during their courtship, 
receive a great blessing. They have disposed 
themselves for grace, and in the sacrament they 
receive a great grace, to live happily, to love 



The Right Idea of Married Life. 297 


one another truly and sincerely, and to be a 
help to one another to secure at last the happi¬ 
ness of the saints in Heaven. 

Bear these things in mind, and make up your 
minds that you will be among those who draw 
down an abundant grace from Heaven, rather 
than of the number who foolishly and thought¬ 
lessly rush into this holy state without prepa¬ 
ration, without prayer, and without any proper 
idea of its immense importance to their whole 
happiness for this world and for the world to 
come. 


CHAPTER EXXXI. 

THE RIGHT IDEA OF MARRIED UFE. 

M ANY have an overstrained and false view of 
matrimony, which leads to great unhappi¬ 
ness afterwards. They are of a fanciful dispo¬ 
sition, fond of building castles in the air, and 
overlooking the realities of life. 

Besides, they have heard many highly- 
wrought stories and legends of princes and prin¬ 
cesses, of lords and ladies, of village girls and 
their admirers, who were dying of love to one 
another. The lovers are, of course, perfection 
itself. The young man is tall and handsome; 
the young woman fair and beautiful. He is 
noble and generous; she has every amiable 




298 The Right Idea of Married Life. 


quality of woman. In short, two such mortals 
could not be found anywhere else in the whole 
world. 

They go through all sorts of trials for one an¬ 
other. He is ready to die a dozen times for her 
sake, and she is ready to make away with her¬ 
self quite as often when the course of true love 
does not run smooth. After a wonderful series 
of ups and downs, and astonishing surprises, all 
comes out right; they get married, and that is 
the last we hear of them. 

This is the stuff we get in novels and roman¬ 
ces, and it has turned many a poor girl’s head 
and ruined her happiness. Novels represent 
marriage as the end of our existence. It is not 
so. God is the object and end of our existence. 
Novels represent a husband as in the place of 
God to us. It is not so. The love of a husband 
cannot fill the heart. It is only God’s love that 
can do that. 

If you place your supreme good and happi¬ 
ness in the love of your husband, you will be 
sure to be disappointed. Trouble and anxiety 
will be mixed with it, and death will be likely 
to knock your idol to pieces. 

If you imagine you are going to live like 
two angels together, seeing only perfection in 
one another, and admiring all you see, I 
rather think you will be mistaken. To vers are 
blind ; they hide their faults and show only their 



The Right Idea of Married Life . 299 


amiable qualities; they are not willing to see 
faults when they are only too plain, but by and 
by there will be plenty of time to find out the 
truth and no motive for concealment. 

He comes to see you in his Sunday’s best, 
his shoes shining and his hair brushed and 
oiled ; by and by his face will look dirty and 
coarse, his hair all disorder, his clothes be¬ 
grimed with dirt. 

He talks soft and delicate now; by and by 
you will hear harsh sounds out of his mouth. 
“ Why haven’t you done this? ” “ Why don’t 

you do better ? ’ ’ and perhaps things a great 
deal worse. 

He was ready to die for you awhile ago, but 
you find he lives a great deal more for himself 
than for you. You find him cross and dis¬ 
agreeable, lazy, perhaps, and shiftless, selfish 
and dissipated, provoking and inconsiderate ; in 
short, you discover many things which you did 
not dream of before. 

And I dare say you will show many traits of 
character which he did not see before, and 
which will require a good deal of forbearance to 
put up with. 

People who form great expectations are apt 
to get disappointed ; and the higher one’s hopes 
the more cruel the disappointment. Young 
people whose ideas of marriage are of the fanci¬ 
ful kind, gotten out of novels, who imagine that 



300 The Right Idea of Married Life. 


married life is a perpetual courtship or honey¬ 
moon, that love is going to prevent all that is 
disagreeable, that love will supply bread and 
butter, keep the children from crying, or the 
weather pleasant, or get the dinner, or make the 
beds, will sometimes find themselves cruelly un¬ 
deceived. 

Their ideas are false and they cannot be real¬ 
ized. Now comes the danger. They give way 
to the disappointment. They begin to hate 
where they thought they loved. Bickering and 
dissension set in. After awhile they live pretty 
much like cats and dogs, and there is no reme¬ 
dy but a separation—a miserable remedy, which 
is directly in the face of the solemn promise 
they made to God to take each other for better 
or worse. 

If they had looked at the matter in its true 
light, there would have been no disappointment. 
Their chief happiness would not have been 
placed in one another, but higher, in God our 
only True Good. They would have had some¬ 
thing to fall back upon in case of disappoint¬ 
ment. 

They would have expected many and great 
faults of character in one another, to be borne 
patiently and put up with, and have been pre¬ 
pared for the worst. 

When a couple love one another in God and 
for God—which is the only real true love worth 



Of the Marriage Ceremony. 


301 


having—God’s grace is sufficient for them. All 
looks different. They learn to respect one an¬ 
other, to make each other happy, and increase 
in love every day. 

Look at marriage, then, in this light. Put 
away fancy and look at the reality, and pray 
God to give you His true light, to see things as 
they are, and for grace to act accordingly. 


CHAPTER LXXXII. 

OF THE MARRIAGE GEREMONY. 

Y\ 7 HEN all has been settled, and the day ap- 
** pointed, take care that all shall be ar¬ 
ranged in a manner suitable to the importance 
and holiness of the ’sacrament which you then 
receive. 

Marriage is not merely a state of life insti¬ 
tuted by God, but a sacrament. The union of 
man and woman represents the union of Christ 
and his church, and therefore it is a sacred 
thing. 

You should regard it in that light, and pre¬ 
pare for it with as much care as you would pre¬ 
pare for your communion. There are special 
reasons for not neglecting this. The happiness 
and well-being of your life, and very likely of 
your eternity, depend upon it. You need 




302 


Of the Marriage Ceremony. 


special grace, and all you can obtain, to sanc¬ 
tify it. Think of these things a good while be¬ 
forehand, and pray frequently and fervently. 

Took at the matter in a spiritual point of 
view, and purify your intention, looking only to 
the will of God, and how you may be able to 
serve Him better. 

We have a beautiful example of this in Scrip¬ 
ture, in the case of Tobias and Sara. They 
spent three days in devout prayer that God 
might sanctify their marriage. “ For we are 
the children of the saints,” said they, “ and we 
must not be joined together like the heathens 
that know not God ” (Tobias viii. 5). 

Have the laws of the church in regard to the 
publication of the banns observed. These laws 
are wise and good, intended to prevent persons 
who have no right to marry one another from 
attempting it. Many an unfortunate girl has 
been deceived into an unlawful marriage be¬ 
cause the banns were not published. 

If there is no danger whatever of such a thing 
happening to you, never mind, get your banns 
published. Uphold God’s laws and set a good 
example to others. Do not ask a dispensation 
unless you have a solid reason for it. It is no 
good reason because you do not like to be pub¬ 
lished. 

Why should you go about your marriage in a 
stealthy and secret manner? You are not going 



How to Behave in Sickness. 


303 


to steal any one’s property ; you are not going 
to do anything mean or dishonorable; on the 
contrary, you enter an honorable state, one wor¬ 
thy of respect among all men ; as Scripture 
says: “Marriage is honorable in all’’ (Heb. 
xiii. 4). 

L,et all things about the wedding be proper 
and suitable. Avoid idle display and useless 
extravagance in regard to dress. See that all 
is proper about the entertainment, if there is 
one. In short, draw down God’s blessing on 
the marriage by your care that there shall be 
nothing to offend Him in the way you enter 
upon it. So may you hope to continue it in 
happiness and make it a great means for your 
eternal salvation. 


CHAPTER EXXXIII. 

HOW TO BEHAVE IN SICKNESS.—CONCLUSION. 

B EFORE closing this book I wish to say a few 
words on how a good girl should look upon 
sickness, and behave herself in it. 

Sickness, like everything else which God al¬ 
lows to befall us, is intended for our good. If 
we take it in the right spirit it will prove an im¬ 
mense advantage to us. 

Sickness affords us an opportunity to practise 




304 


How to Behave in Sickness . 


many virtues in a high degree, particularly 
those most excellent ones of humility and pa¬ 
tience. When stretched upon the bed of sick¬ 
ness, we feel how helpless we are of ourselves, 
and how completely we depend on God for 
health and strength and every breath we draw. 
We cry to him and He hears us, and helps us. 
Sickness is a time of grace. 

What an opportunity it gives us for patience, 
amid so many pains and privations and wants. 

If we did but know, it is just the time to be 
like our Lord Jesus Christ as He was hanging, 
so racked with torment and so afflicted, upon 
His cross for our redemption. 

Particularly is this the case with a poor girl 
who lives out, when she is taken down by sick¬ 
ness. Among strangers, with no kind mother 
at hand to take tender care of her, how forsaken 
she must feel herself at such a time ! 

She is working for hire, and when she gets 
sick her employers very likely think far more 
of their own loss of her services than of her con¬ 
dition. She lacks that attention and kindness 
that they would pay one of their own family. 
She cannot expect those delicacies and that con¬ 
stant nursing that near relatives would be likely 
to give her. 

Indeed, in most cases, she will be obliged to 
be removed elsewhere, and to provide for her¬ 
self as best she can, for it cannot be expected, 



How to Behave in Sickness. 


305 


or required, that her employers take care of 
her. 

They have agreed to pay her wages in return 
for service, and, of course, when she cannot af¬ 
ford that sendee she becomes a burden upon 
them, and in justice has no more claim to be 
taken care of than any other person. Besides, 
in many cases it is quite out of the power of her 
employers to take so great a burden upon them¬ 
selves. 

On all these accounts sickness is, to the girl 
who lives out, a great trial and a great oppor¬ 
tunity to practise heroic virtue. 

Let her then, in such case, place all her hope 
and all her confidence in God, in our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Let her accept all as coming from His 
hands, for it is the truth His blessed hands 
have held out this cup for her to drink, as a 
‘ most salutary and good medicine for her soul. 

Let her not be satisfied with accepting it, but 
keep thanking Him for it, and saying to her¬ 
self that it is the very best thing for her, and 
that she would not have it otherwise than as 
God wills. 

Now is the time for patience, to keep down 
all murmuring and dissatisfaction. No doubt 
there will be temptation to murmur, but put it 
all aside, for God is as good now as ever, and it 
is wrong now as ever to complain of what you 
cannot help and He has allowed. 



3°6 


How to Behave in Sickness. 


If the family where you are cannot help you, 
go willingly elsewhere. Do not indulge in use¬ 
less hard feeling. Consider all right, and look 
only at the Divine will. 

If they care for you, be very grateful and 
thankful for what you had no right to expect. 
Do not, in any case, be fretful and impatient 
after any want of attention, or if anything you 
need or desire is wanting. Remember how our 
L,ord needed a little water to moisten His tongue 
as He was hanging upon the cross. 

Some girls, when they get sick, particularly 
if they are not used to it, show a deal of impa¬ 
tience ; they give a great deal of unnecessary 
trouble, and show an unthankful spirit in regard 
to what is done for them. This is certainly 
quite the wrong spirit, and one that renders 
such a girl very unhappy herself and displeasing 
to God. 

But, on the contrary, I must say the exam¬ 
ples of holy patience and peace under affliction, 
on the part of others, is oftentimes most beauti¬ 
ful ; all who witness it are charmed and edified 
by it. What stores of merit such a girl lays up 
for herself and for others ! 

She really preaches the Gospel of our I,ord 
Jesus Christ, and does much to save souls ; for 
her example is more effectual than perhaps the 
words of the most eloquent preacher can be. 

You cannot do much in sickness in the way 




How to Behave in Sickness. 


30 7 


of set prayers and devotions, but you can do a 
great deal in the way of patience and resigna¬ 
tion. You can do a great deal in the way of 
short, fervent ejaculations, such as, “ Thy holy 
will be done ” ; “ Grant me patience * *; “ Praise 
God for His goodness ” ; or many others of the 
same sort. 

You can offer yourself to God entirely, giv¬ 
ing up your life, if it be God’s will, cheerfully 
into His hands. For the rest, keep as quiet 
and cheerful as possible, putting away all temp¬ 
tations and troubles of whatever sort they may 
be, and trusting entirely to God and our Ford 
Jesus Christ, just as an infant reposes with con¬ 
fidence in the arms of its mother. 

So, if it be God’s will, this blessed time of 
sickness will land you safe on the shore of eter¬ 
nity, to enjoy for ever, and with joy unspeakable, 
the sight of God, the society of Jesus Christ, of 
the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of all holy saints 
who have ‘ ‘ fought the good fight of faith ’ ’ and 
received the immortal crown of victory. 

And now I must bring my work to a close. 
I have done my best to teach you those princi¬ 
ples of religion and virtue which will insure 
you a happy and joyful life here, and the re¬ 
wards of eternity. 

It has cost me much labor and reflection, but 
I have been glad to give it, because I know it 



3°8 


Conclusion. 


will be appreciated by grateful hearts. May 
God smile upon it! May the Blessed Virgin 
Mary and the Saints take it under their protec¬ 
tion ! 

And if any good girl shall find herself bene • 
fited by reading this book, and the love of God 
increased in her heart, I beg she will not forget 
the author in her prayers, but beg of God for 
me that I may lead a good life here, with a 
single eye to His glory, and attain everlasting 
life hereafter. 

God bless you all! 



PRINTED AT THE COLUMBUS PRESS, 120-122 W. BOTH ST., N.Y. 





















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